What Forsyth had to tell did not amount to much. As was his custom, he had gone to Beaumanoir's room as soon as he was dressed, and had found it vacant. As, however, the bed had been slept in, he apprehended nothing wrong, thinking merely that the Duke was smoking an early cigarette on the terrace. Seeing no sign of him there, he extended his search in the grounds, but again with no result. The next step was to question the servants, none of whom had seen their master since the previous day.
The General stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't believe that woman knows anything," he said at length. "I was watching her when you came in. She seemed to be surprised, and even disconcerted, by your news."
"Perhaps one of her colleagues has acted independently, or there may be divided counsels in the camp," Forsyth suggested. "In that case——"
"In any case, what we have to do is to find Beaumanoir, dead or alive," the General interrupted. "See here, Alec, you must get a grip on yourself and go in and eat your breakfast calmly—just to prevent a premature panic among the women. I'll go and hunt up Azimoolah. If there has been any stir during the night he is sure to know of it."
But as the General descended the terrace steps he was smitten with inward misgivings on that point. Had his faithful henchman detected anything unusual during the hours of darkness he would, long ere this, have been up to the house to report; besides which, if he had come across any lurking miscreants he would have seen to it that no harm befell the Duke. And here was the Duke missing. The hypothesis was that Azimoolah had either been eluded or had himself fallen a victim to foul play.
Influenced by this fear, the General quickened his pace, and as soon as he reached the wooded portion of the park uttered at frequent intervals his signal for the Pathan to appear. But glade after glade he traversed, scaring the rabbits with his cobra-like hiss, yet the lithe form of Azimoolah nowhere broke through the bushes. The General did not desist till he had thoroughly drawn the coverts, abandoning after a while his strange noises for a systematic scrutiny of the ground. He knew that had Azimoolah been in the park as a live man he would have answered the well-known call by now; whereas if he was lying cold and stark somewhere in the thicket, by patient search alone could he be found.
At the end of a fruitless hour the General went back to the house, realizing that not only the Duke, but the Duke's most capable protector, was missing. The blow was a severe one, for, apart from the ominous mystery of this dual disappearance, a certain scheme that had come to very near maturity was rendered null and void—a scheme that before another day dawned was to have cut the claws of Ziegler and Co. for ever.
There was the bare chance that Beaumanoir might have turned up during his absence, and General Sadgrove covered the ground at his best pace; but he was destined to find no such pleasant surprise in store for him. Forsyth met him, as he mounted the terrace steps, with the significant inquiry whether he had discovered anything.
"Nothing, and Azimoolah has gone too," was the reply. "Where are the women?"
"In the morning-room; they are not alarmed as yet, only a little uneasy—especially Leonie."