CHAPTER XVIII
DEALS MAINLY WITH SOME NEWS FROM MEXICO
THE next day at Schwartzberg was uneventful. Scanlon saw very little of Campe, and nothing at all of either of the ladies. Kretz was silent and in no way interesting.
Once, about the middle of the afternoon, Bat took a walk along the river bank, but he saw nothing which caught his attention, and he did not go far. The remainder of the day he lounged about, smoking and reading. The day following was even more dull; except for a gallop in the morning with Campe on a pair of well-conditioned horses, the time was altogether unprofitable. Then two more days passed, one duller than the other.
“Even some light reasoning would be welcome,” complained the big man, “but there’s nothing new to reason about.”
Upon the fifth day, having seen nothing of the crime specialist, Scanlon made up his mind to pay a casual visit to the inn.
“It may be,” said he, “that he’s just curling up for a sight of me. And there may be important news to pass on.”
But he got no sight of the jaundiced man at the hostelry; indeed, there was no one in view but the round bodied landlord, who laughed at Mr. Scanlon’s jokes and was as affable as ever.
Bat tramped back to Schwartzberg in a thoughtful mood.
“A dead calm,” said he. “Complete and absolute. And not a sail in sight. But,” with a lift of the eyebrows, “maybe it’s that thing I’ve so often heard of—the calm before the storm.”
In the middle of the afternoon the bell at the gate rang, and a little later Kretz came in with a telegram.