"All right, my man," he said authoritatively. "I'll see the station officer. Send for a cab."
"Cool hand, isn't it?" whispered the policeman to the tailor. "See how he's dropped trying to pull off his bluff on me. Just hop out and see if you can find a cab. I'll keep an eye on him."
So it was that a high official of the Criminal Investigation Department reached an outlying police station under the conduct of a young constable whose swelling pride was soon reduced to abject misery as the divisional detective-inspector, who was leaning on a high desk and chatting with a station-sergeant, sprang forward to greet the suspect.
"They 'phoned through from headquarters for me to meet you here, sir. There's one or two messages come through for you."
The constable's jaw dropped. "Is this man—this gentleman from the Yard?" he gasped.
The local man stared from Green to the policeman, and from the policeman to Green. Some notion of what had happened began to occur to him. "What the
blazes——" he began, but the chief inspector cut him short.
"That's all right," he said. "I was careless enough to come out without a warrant-card, and this young man has made a little mistake. Don't you worry about it, my lad. Only, next time, don't put so much zeal into a doubtful case. Cut along back to your beat and give that chap this." Some sovereigns chinked. "Now, Mr. Malley, I'll be glad to have those messages, and to put a call through to Mr. Foyle."
He followed Malley into an inner room, and the local man handed him a couple of messages which had been telephoned to Scotland Yard by the county police, and one sent by Foyle immediately after his interview with Dutch Fred, giving amplified particulars of the car. Green made his report over the telephone and then, replacing the receiver, turned to Malley. "This last message shows he's got a good start. He passed through Haslemere an hour ago. Can you get away yourself, or have you got a good man you can lend me?"
"That's all arranged, sir," was the answer. "Mr. Foyle said that I was to go with you if you wanted me."