“Some other time I shall be delighted. But to-day there are some small matters which must have my attention. Good-bye, and thank you.”
Kretz swung open the outer door; they crossed the courtyard, and he shot back the great bolts of the gate. The detective shook hands with Campe; to Scanlon he said:
“If it is at all possible, call upon me at ten o’clock to-morrow. I think I shall then have something to tell you in regard to the affair you spoke to me of yesterday.”
“I’ll be on hand,” said Bat, with a nod of assurance. “Count on me.”
From a window the beautiful, smiling face of Miss Knowles looked down upon them. Ashton-Kirk took off his cap, and with a nod and a little flourish he was off down the road, swinging with a long stride, and twirling his hickory stick gaily.
Next day the bell in the tower of the church next door was striking ten when the punctual Bat Scanlon presented himself at the crime specialist’s door.
“Come in,” said that gentleman. “You are as sharp as time itself.”
As usual, he had a pile of books about him; and the meerschaum pipe was sending its pale vapours into the room. But these were a different kind of books. Those which had been heaped about on the occasion of Mr. Scanlon’s last visit were things of dreams and fanciful speculation; but these, this morning, were keen and practical looking. The sheep binding seemed to warn off triflers; the type seemed sharply cut and decisive. And the very pipe itself seemed to wear a purposeful air; instead of the leisurely drawing at it that had marked the other visit, the puffs were now curt and contained a promise of other things.
Bat Scanlon seated himself in the chair he had occupied before; and while he lighted the cigar which was presented to him, his eyes went to the print of the brown sailors peering away into the heart of the sea’s mystery. And now, somehow, their attitude was changed. The mystery ahead was as complete as before; indeed, it was, perhaps, more so; but the brown men now seemed at ease; to-day they did not fear the unknown; and, as he looked closely, it even seemed that they were pleased with the unusualness of their situation.
“Just the way I feel,” Bat told himself. “Kirk’s on the job and he’ll fix it up as it should be. So why worry?”