“And now, Kenyon, will you undertake the case? The reward is already well worth working for, great though the risks may be; but I can undertake to double it if you bring our man in alive. You will get a fine sporting holiday up country, with all expenses liberally provided for, and in point of fact it is the opportunity of a lifetime—or perhaps I ought to say that to anyone but yourself it would be such.”
The detective sat thinking for awhile, and then said, “See here, Mr Driffield; this is a large order—a very large order—and I must just reason the matter out in my own way; but I’ll let you have my answer by or before this time to-morrow. Your man may be only shooting in the far interior, or camping out in this infernal secret territory of the Mormons, or he may be—well, elsewhere.”
The two then separated for the night, the lawyer going straight to the telegraph station, and in a few minutes more the submarine cable had the following message flashing over it:—
“To Drelincourt, London.
“Splendid man probably available; terms, two thousand and expenses. Shall I secure him?
“Driffield.”
Arrived at his hotel, the detective sought his own room, lighted his pipe, and puzzled over his notebook for upwards of an hour, idly drumming on the table with his fingers, and listlessly turning over the leaves pregnant with flotsam and jetsam of criminal interest, and glancing from time to time in a half-attentive, half-indifferent fashion at a number of pencilled faces which adorned its earlier pages. Suddenly, however, his attention became riveted, the man’s face seemed as if turned to stone and his whole expression transformed whilst he gazed fixedly at one portrait as if unable to believe his eyes.
“Gods!” he cried at last, springing excitedly to his feet; “I have it! Aha! Master Zero, we shall meet at last, and then look out for yourself, my friend, for if ever I entertained hatred and malice and all uncharitableness, it is towards you, and with good cause; and, Heaven helping me, before next year is out, I’ll pay you back a little of the debt, the fearful debt, I owe you.”
Quickly he also proceeded to the cable offices, and a few minutes later another message—this time in cypher—traversed the ocean depths, as follows:—
“To Heliostat, New York.