I hoped that the injury was only slight, but my hopes faded the moment I examined the injury. The tyre had picked up a curved and pointed piece of iron, and had been irreparably damaged. No patching was of any use. There was nothing for it but to replace the tyre with a new one. Fortunately, I was prepared with a spare outer cover as well as inner tubes, and, with a muttered curse, I threw off my coat and set about the job. Then when that was done, and it took me a good hour to complete the task, I discovered, on restarting the car, that a further misfortune had befallen us. Either owing to the jumping of the car when the tyre went, or more likely because of the sudden application, the footbreak had seized, and the transmission was so far injured that I could not get the car along above seven or eight miles an hour. I did my best to put the damage right. I lay on my back in the middle of the road, and used all the language approved by the most fluent members of the Automobile Club for use on such occasions, but entirely without result. Exactly where we were I did not know, and, after I had relieved my feelings, I thought it best to jog along until we came to some town where it would be possible to get skilled assistance.
And it was while we were progressing in this humdrum fashion that Forrest confided to me the reasons for his anxiety.
"In the first place," he said, "your theory as to the stud found by Mannering's servants proved to be correct. It was Winter's. I arrived at St. Albans the first thing this morning, and, after getting your note, went straight away and interviewed the girls. They handed me the trinket. I took it to Winter, and he identified it. He will swear to it anywhere. By the time I had done this, your wire for me had arrived, and your man, having seen me go into Winter's house, brought it on. I took the next train to town and went straight to the Yard, thankful that at last I was able to report something definite. Besides, I wanted to take a warrant without any one being aware of it, and I knew I could manage that better in London than in the country. Well, I called at the Yard, ran across to Bow Street and got my warrant, and returned to the Yard in order to instruct a couple of our men who had been placed at my disposal. While I was there particulars came to hand of a feat which throws all the other doings of the Pirate into the shade. You mentioned, I think, that Mannering, when he told Miss Maitland that he was going away, said that all England would be talking of him."
"She said so," I replied doubtfully; "but she was so excited——"
"She was probably correct in her recollection of what passed," he said. "If further proof were wanted to connect your friend with the Motor Pirate, those words would be sufficient. If what I know leaks out, the Pirate will fill the popular mind more to-morrow than he has done in the past even. Yesterday morning, within six miles of Sandringham, he held up"—he hesitated—"I must mention no names—he held up, let me say, an August Personage——"
"The King?" I cried.
"An August Personage," remarked Forrest, severely, "in broad daylight."
"Let me hear all about it?" I asked eagerly.
"I don't know that I can tell you everything, for so far I only know the particulars wired to the Yard. But the story is complete enough to enable me to do what I have hitherto failed in, and that is, complete the necessary identification of our friend Mannering. And curiously enough, it is owing to the keen powers of observation possessed by the——"
"The August Personage," I reminded him, a trifle maliciously as he hesitated.