"Good heavens!" I ejaculated.
"I should have been inside that shop a couple of months ago," he continued, "if I had thought—— Whereabouts is the shop?"
"Just at the back of the house and abutting on the side of the road," I explained. "The old coach-house and stables." Then as the thought occurred to me, I continued, "Why I heard him tell you of his work himself."
"That's precisely the reason why I paid no attention to it," said my companion. "Can you take me to the place?"
I led the way through the French window, Forrest putting out the light before he followed me, and carefully closing the casement behind him as he stepped on to the verandah. A clock, somewhere in St. Albans, struck the half after two as we crossed the lawn in the direction of the workshop.
"We have only a short time at our disposal," whispered Forrest. "The darkness is lifting, and our friend will soon be returning."
We passed through a side door, which we found unlocked, into what had once been the stable-yard. But we could get no further. The two doors which gave admission to the building were firmly fastened, and there was no available window by which we might gain entrance. We retraced our steps, and, passing out of the door, approached the stables from the road. By this time the dawn had made such progress that we knew our chances of getting inside before Mannering's return were dwindling rapidly. We found no more likelihood of obtaining admission from this side than the other.
"I cannot arrest a man on the evidence of a few grains of tobacco dust, and an empty phial," declared Forrest, savagely, as he shook the tightly locked door. "Listen!" I said.
Borne on the wind came the throb of a motor. So still was the air that when the sound first reached our ears it must have been a mile away. The sound drew nearer and nearer, and while it was still a quarter of a mile distant, I recognized the familiar noise of Mannering's car, a sound as dissimilar to the hum of the Pirate car as it was possible to conceive.
"Forrest," I cried, turning to my companion, "we must be mad to think that Mannering could play the part of the Motor Pirate on that old car of his."