“I will,” cried Falcon, “as soon as you like; that is, if you will help us to get away by the next train.”
“I’m afraid you won’t do that, but there is one due in an hour and a half. At the same time, if you will go to my house and dry your clothes and settle the little account, my foreman shall see about your Professor Scudder, as you call him, and very aptly so, too, I think.”
Mr Falcon, finding that the master carpenter was resolved to stick to him, and that his foreman was instructed by signs and whispers not to lose sight of the little man, requested that Eben’s hat be restored to him with his other garments, which were picked up and found to be quite safe. Then Herr What’s-his-name, or, in plainer and more direct terms, Mr Falcon, saw the policy of assenting to all that had been proposed, and was truly glad to think that he would have so good a chance of leaving before any interference on the part of the local authorities or police had been ordered.
“Mind you,” added his counsellor, “if you want to avoid being questioned and perhaps detained for attempted homicide, or anything that might lead to further inquiry, you take my advice and leave by the next train.”
Seeing what a fix they might soon get in, Mr Falcon forthwith went to the master carpenter’s house, changed and dried his clothes, paid his bill, arranged that Eben Croft was to be brought to him from where he was and then the financier made fresh terms for getting all his traps together and paid for their carriage up to goodness knows where, no matter what state they might be in, and if the carpenter and his foreman would undertake to dispatch them with expedition, Falcon would pay extra, and handsomely, too.
This business-like offer had the desired effect, every man employed worked with a will. The tackle, much shattered, was taken down in a van. Scudder had his scratches and wounds seen to, and they just cleared out from the railway station when one or two plain clothes officers began inquiring about the health and residence of the foreigners, but the train was in motion, and the flying financier and his confederate were off before they were formally interviewed by the police, who rather winked at their escape, as they had caused no end of stir and amusement even among the demented sightseers, one of whom thought that the crazy man of flight was about to join them, as he was himself seemingly under the influence of a lunar complaint.
CHAPTER X
CAPTAIN LINK’S APPEARANCE
While Mr Falcon had been scheming in Sussex, Harry Goodall, on returning to the Crystal Palace, found that as his first ascent had proved such a great success, he would immediately try to guard against public gossip respecting the diabolical attempt which had been made to damage his balloon, in case the palace authorities might be induced to stop any further experiments.
Unquestionably, the erratic visits of the mysterious spy and his little satellite showed that the delinquent on the Essex marsh, the “shadow man” and the man on the North Tower with Eben Croft, were one and the same. The aeronaut felt sure that if these men were seen to be dogging his footsteps, the palace directors would not feel disposed to allow another aerial trip.
Tom Trigger and his master had well considered what had taken place, and Miss Chain and her mother were duly cautioned against alluding to the suspicious strangers, and were also requested not to tell Hawksworth the detective anything that had taken place.