“Mr. Drago is undoubtedly somewhere in this wood, and it is time they took him away. They would be sure to do these two jobs under one, I think. It is the methodical manner in which the leading spirit of the enterprise has everything done.�
“The boss of this thing must be the husband of that young baroness, I should think,� said Corrigan. “Or perhaps her brother.�
“Why don’t you think she may be doing it herself?� asked the detective, smiling.
“A pretty girl like that wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t,� was the porter’s positive reply. “But she might be drawn into it by some of her menfolks. Things like that happen sometimes. You see it in the newspapers, anyhow.�
It was not long before it was shown that Nick Carter had been correct in his belief that the boat would put in to get Drago from his hiding place in the wood, wherever it might be.
The boat stopped in the middle of the bay, and Carter, from his place behind the bush, could see one of the men who appeared to be in command—in fact, it was Kennedy, the first mate of the yacht—looking around him with a night glass.
He scanned the shore as far as he could see it, and also looked steadily at the hotel.
Nick Carter smiled as he thought he saw the glass trained in the direction of his own window in the hotel, room number forty-four. He could not be sure, in the darkness, but he believed he was right.[Pg 29]
“My charming dinner companion must have told him whereabouts my room is situated,� he said to himself. “Even if he cannot be sure which is my window, I am conceited enough to think he is trying to assure himself that I am not watching him from one of them. Much good it will do him!�
As they came on, the oarsmen stopped rowing. Then, as the boat’s head shifted a little, they headed straight for the beach where Nick Carter and the porter were watching.