“Siwash Mike overhears it all. And having overheard all that, he’ll do one of two things, I think. He’ll either shadow me, as the person he’s most concerned in, to the hotel or put another man on to me to follow me to the hotel—if there is another person; or he’ll decide that we’re safe for a short while, and so go off to report to Neuburg.”
“And I?”
“You keep your eye on Siwash all the time. You follow him. If he follows me to the hotel, follow him.... I shall go straight there unless I get some signal to join you. If I am in the hotel I’ll manage to keep my eye on the door all the time, so that if he moves off I’ll take a signal from you and join you at once—I know you’ve an electric torch. If you shine, then I’ll come out. But I’m rather hoping that if he feels certain we don’t know he’s here, he’ll go off at once after hearing our conversation about the hotel, and will trust his luck about getting his report in before we stir abroad. If that’s the case then we will both follow him.... We must plan a way for you to call my attention, should I have already gone towards the hotel....”
“That should be easy. You have to go up a pretty steep hill to get out of the station yard. The hotel is just across the road. From the hotel door you should command the approach; if you’ve not reached the hotel by the time he goes off, well, I should pass so close that I should be able to get you a warning.... But—but—he might go by car or by rig....”
“That would be the devil ...” began Clement; but the detective cried, “No, I don’t think it would. If he got right into a car or rig I would know at once what he was about. I’d take one of the other cars that are sure to be there, and that steep hill in the station yard will check his car, and enable me to pick you up.”
They talked out the general line of this plan, and the more they talked the most satisfactory it seemed. They would get to Neuburg’s headquarters by following the man who was trailing them, and who felt secure because he thought they didn’t know he was trailing them. There were, of course, dangers and difficulties bristling along the line of their proposed action.
“What if they do put another man on to shadow you?” the detective asked.
“We’ll have to deal with him—as the contingency arises,” said Clement grimly. “It is a risk we can’t avoid.”
“And we must beware of traps.”