Encumbered with the child Peggy, the villains could not have got far away yet, albeit they had many hours’ start.
They would have to carry her when she got tired, or stay and hide with her somewhere. Unless—the thought made him start and turn cold, surely murder was not meant.
He had shown Ralph the crape mask and bade him go seek.
“Hie away, good dog,” he said, “wide away, boy. Your little mistress’s life depends on your picking up the trail.”
After a snuff or two at the mask, Ralph, with an impatient cry, half anger, half grief apparently, made a few circles round, muzzle and long ears down, and then with a more joyful yap, set off at a shambling trot straight away from the tarn and through the pine wood. It was rather dark here, but they soon emerged on to a sheep track which led them upwards in a winding direction until they struck the main road, and northwards went the dog.
His progress was rapid at first and it was all Fitzroy and the others could do to keep up.
And the showman’s thoughts kept time with his pace. They reverted now to the last time an attempt to kidnap poor Peggy had been made. He had certainly put that down to the desire on the part of some one to possess the girl as a speculation, for she was undoubtedly very clever, not only as an actress, but a danseuse.
But this second attempt threw a more lurid light on the affair. Peggy, alive or dead, was wanted for some other reason. She was in some one’s way and had to be removed at all risk and all expense. But by whom or why he did not trouble to think for the present.
Moreover, ten to one, the kidnappers—mere tools doubtless of some rich man in whose pay they were—were the same fellows who had made the first attempt, else why did they wear masks?
Should he send Gourmand off to seek police assistance? Better not, he thought. The police, although more methodical in their ways of dealing with things, would more likely hinder rather than help Fitzroy. They would want to deliberate and follow their deliberations up by red-tape cut-and-dry investigation, and so valuable time would be lost and the robbers get off.