"Good Lord, don't I know? Let me think! Let me think!"
The Governor drew up one of the window blinds and his eyes fell on a steamer lying by the pier with smoke rising lazily from her black and red funnels.
"If the woman escaped only a few hours ago," he said, "she cannot have left the island yet. Have you given orders that the passengers by the morning steamer shall be watched?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Do so at once. If that fails, telegraph to your police in every town and parish. Good gracious, in this pocket-handkerchief of an island it ought to be possible to re-capture an escaped prisoner in a day, even if she lies like a toad under a stone."
"We'll leave no stone unturned, sir."
"A woman! A mere girl! Unless the jailer or his people deliberately opened the doors for her she must have had assistance."
"That's what I say, your Excellency."
"Have you any idea who helped her?"
"No .... that is to say...."