“What makes you so certain of that?”
“He was here when we saw the flash of light. That is less than half an hour ago. To walk from here with four of these bags to the cliff, down the path in the dark to the boat he has waiting for him would take more than half an hour.”
“But what makes you think he has a boat? Why do you feel sure he has come by sea?”
“Because that is the better way to come if he wanted to escape observation. If he came by road he would have brought a vehicle and would have taken the whole of the treasure away in a few minutes. But in a vehicle he might be met along the road by some one who knew him.”
“Have you any idea who it is?” asked Marsland.
“Some one who has solved the cryptogram or got it solved for him,” said Crewe. “By making a tour of the second-hand bookshops in London he probably got in touch with some one who has made a study of cryptograms, and in that way got it solved. There are some strange human types in these big second-hand bookshops in London—strange old men full of unexpected information in all sorts of subjects.”
“But how did he get a copy of the cryptogram? Could he have got possession of the copy I found on the stairs?”
“I think so.”
“How?”
“Miss Maynard gave it to him.”