Upon arrival at the Red Lion, however, Sir Hugh’s first thought was to call to Nye to bring up a bottle of Madeira. Receiving no response he walked into the taproom to look for him. There was no sign either of Clem or Nye, and a gentleman in a moleskin waistcoat, who was waiting patiently by the bar, volunteered the information that he himself had been hollering for the landlord till he was fair parched. He added that if the Red Lion wanted no customers there were other inns which did, and upon this bitter remark, stumped out to go in search of one.
Sir Hugh went back to the coffee-room, and had just begun to say that Nye seemed to have gone out when a cry from above made him break off and look inquiringly towards the staircase. Miss Thane, who had gone up to take off her hat and coat, came quickly down, looking perturbed and startled. “Sir Tristram, something has happened while we have been out! Someone has been here: my room has been ransacked, all our rooms! Where is Nye?”
“That,” said Sir Tristram grimly, “is what we shall have to find out. A more pressing question is, where is Ludovic?”
Ludovic was found to be sleeping peacefully in his underground retreat. He had heard nothing, and when he learned that every room in the house had been turned upside down by unknown hands, he showed a marked inclination to laugh, and said that he supposed Basil had been searching for him again.
“Well, if he expected to find you amongst my clothing I can only say that he must have a very indelicate idea of me,” said Miss Thane. “Sir Tristram, do you suppose him to have kidnapped Nye and Clem?”
“Hardly,” Shield answered, shutting the cellar door upon Ludovic, and replacing the chest that stood upon the trap. He walked across the passage to the taproom, noticed that the trap leading down to the main cellar was shut, and pulled it up, calling: “Nye! Are you there, man?”
No one answered him; Sir Hugh strolled in to report that he had found no trace of Nye, and observing that Shield had opened the trapdoor said that the particular Madeira he had in mind was not in that cellar.
Shield had found a taper by this time, and kindled it at the fire. “What I want to find is Nye, not Madeira!” he said, and went down the stairs into the gloom of the cellar. A moment later his voice sounded, summoning Sir Hugh to his assistance. “Thane! Bring a lamp down here, I’ve found them!”
Sir Hugh selected a lamp from several standing on a shelf, and lit it in a leisurely fashion. Armed with this he descended into the cellar, where he found Shield calmly waiting for him, with the taper in his hand, and at his feet two neatly-trussed, gagged men. “Well, I’ll be damned!” said Sir Hugh, blinking. “First it’s one thing and then it’s another! This is the queerest inn I’ve ever stayed at in my life.”
Shield blew out his taper, directed Sir Hugh to put the lamp down and ungag Clem, and set to work to free the landlord. This was very soon done, and no sooner was Nye able to speak than he said: “Is Mr Ludovic safe still?”