“Well, he found him first, didn’t he. Took him away. Beat it with him——”
“What!” cried Clement. “Are you saying Gunning has left Cobalt with Neuburg?”
“First train out, sure,” said the man. “This morning, or rather, yesterday mornin’.”
“An’ the lady——?”
“But ain’t I bin tellin’ you all the time Henry was gone when she came in?”
Clement stared amazedly at the faint blur of white that in the darkness represented the driver’s face. In the pause the detective Gatineau said, “Then, Miss Reys, this lady and her companion, are still in Cobalt?”
“They certainly are.”
Clement spoke. “Until the first train out,” he said bitterly. “That’s why we’re here. We were lured out here so that Miss Reys can be got away from Cobalt without our meeting or seeing her. They can’t very well get her out of Cobalt until the morning, so they got me, us, out of Cobalt instead.”
Indeed, it was unmistakable. Gunning had been whisked out of Cobalt to some unconjecturable place, either because he was not in a fit state to see Heloise, or because, hearing of Clement’s pursuit, Neuburg feared that his plan might be interrupted. The rest naturally followed.