"Matter of eight or nine miles, guv'nor, over the moors," replied Spurge.
"How did you come in then?" asked Gilling.
"Cousin Jim Spurge's bike—down in the stable-yard, now," answered
Spurge. "Did it comfortable in under the hour."
"I think we ought to go out there—some of us," said Gilling. "We ought—"
At that moment the door opened and Sir Cresswell Oliver came in, holding a bit of flimsy paper in his hand. He glanced at Spurge and then beckoned the three young men to join him.
"I've had a wireless message from the North Sea—and it puzzles me," he said. "One of our ships up there has had news of what is surely the Pike from a fishing vessel. She was seen late yesterday afternoon going due east—due east, mind you! If that was she—and I'm sure of it!—our quarry's escaping us."
CHAPTER XXVII
THE PEEL TOWER
Gilling took the message from Sir Cresswell and thoughtfully read it over. Then he handed it back and motioned the old seaman to look at Spurge.
"I think you ought to know what this man has just told us, sir," he said. "We've got a story from him that exactly fits in with what Chatfield told Mr. Vickers when the Pike returned to carry him off yesterday. Chatfield, you'll remember, said that the gold he'd withdrawn from the bank is hidden somewhere—well, there's no doubt that this man Zachary Spurge knows where it is hidden. It's there now—and the presumption is, of course, that these people on the Pike will certainly come in to this coast—somehow!—to get it. So in that case—eh?"