“Yes; in the South Branch. She lay near us the day before we left on this trip.”
“Well,” Case went on, “you asked me when I first saw her—here, I presume you mean—and I’ll tell you that she came puffing in just after you boys left for the shore. You were still in sight, on a pier, when she anchored, and they got out a boat and rowed over after you.”
“Whew!” whistled Clay, in astonishment.
“That’s why I asked you if you saw anybody in Para that you had ever seen before.”
“Did you recognize any of the people who went ashore in the boat as persons you had seen before—in Chicago or elsewhere?”
“Yes; there was a man, a youngish man with a scar on his cheek, his left cheek, almost under the ear, with little black, piggy eyes, and a tiny black mustache, with the ends turned up. He seemed to be giving orders to the others. Ever see him before?”
Clay remembered that morning in Chicago, when he had secured the reward for restoring the diamonds. This was the man who had run after the car which Jule and himself had taken at the corner of Madison and Dearborn streets. He stated the incident, briefly, to his companion.
“Why, I saw that same man on the steamer in the South Branch,” Case exclaimed. “That is why I noted his appearance so carefully here. He wore a greenish suit in Chicago.”
“He had such a suit on when I saw him that morning,” Clay said.
“Well,” Case mused, directly, “he’s come after us?”