"Indeed, I don't," Russell said. "I don't know any more than you do. Mercer could help us."
Uzali made no reply. Very carefully he strode round the house, looking intently amongst the ivy which fringed the stone walls. He seemed to be seeking for some cellar trap or sunken door by which the basement might be reached. He gave a grunt of triumph presently as he pointed to a flight of moss-clad stairs leading to a small door below. He pressed his shoulder to the woodwork and it gave way quietly. Once more he chuckled.
"We are on the track at last," he whispered. "We shall find it here. Strike a light!"
Russell took a vesta from his pocket and after lighting it held it aloft. He made out the outline of a dim vault with three doors at the far end approached by flights of steps. The place apparently was empty and Uzali strode along as if he were on the verge of some important discovery. Then Russell's foot tripped over the support of an iron wine-bin and the whole thing came over with a rattle and roar that made the place echo. With a cry Uzali started back.
"Now you have done it," he said hoarsely. "Look out for yourself. Give us another match for goodness' sake."
The match went out as if some unseen person had stooped and extinguished it. Just before the last dying gleam faded it seemed to Russell that two shadowy forms had passed him rapidly. He knew a moment later that he was not mistaken, for he heard footsteps running up the stairs leading to the garden.
"After them," Uzali whispered. "The tragedy is done so far as we are concerned. That unfortunate man is beyond salvation. After them! It is not so dark as you think."
After the intense gloom of the vault the garden was by comparison almost light. Russell could see the two forms not more than a hundred yards ahead. He set off doggedly in chase. His blood was up now, his heart was full of anger, and a certain recklessness possessed him. Come what might those people should not escape him again; neither did he need Uzali to tell him who they were. He knew he was in close pursuit of the two Malays whom he had seen not so many hours before lying on the floor in Jansen's sitting-room.
It all grew clear to Russell as he raced along. He was just as anxious to catch up with those men, just as determined to mete out to them the punishment they deserved, but the wild feeling of passion was gone.
Doubtless the Malays had been too cunning for Jansen. To a certain extent they had trusted him, but the Dutchman's drugs had been insufficient. What Jansen had come to Maldon Grange for, Russell could not tell. But there must have been some deep reason for his move, some pressing need of keeping the Malays out of the way till his errand was accomplished.