Van Dusen regarded the young man tolerantly, but his smile was a little cynical as he replied:
"When you have studied crime as thoroughly as I have during the past few years, Roy, you will not be so confident of finding nothing but good in any particular man, no matter how high his reputation may be. I cannot say with certainty that Doctor Garnet is vile; neither can I say that he is incapable of vileness. But in the work I have to do, I must entertain all possibilities if I would solve the problem."
"Well, Arthur," came Roy's reply after a moment of reflection, "I admit that I am amazed by what you have told me. I do not in the least understand the turn of affairs by which Doctor Garnet is implicated. But you are in charge of the case, and I am absolutely in your hands. I mean not to hamper you in any way—not even by throwing doubts on your judgment. So, now, just tell me what you mean to do next."
Van Dusen answered authoritatively:
"We must leave at once. On my way here, I sent out wires to Norfolk and other near-by coast points. These will be sufficient to keep the port officers on the lookout for The Isabel, as well as the coast-guard crews. I have a wardrobe on board my yacht. Whatever you may need beyond what's in your bag, I can supply you with. Let's be off."
Van Dusen's yacht was moored near the spot where The Isabel had been lying. The detective made diligent inquiry at the landing stage in the hope of picking up some bit of information concerning Doctor Garnet's presence there, but the effort was fruitless. No one seemed to have known anything concerning the physician's visit.
Forthwith, then, the two young men went aboard Van Dusen's yacht, and a few minutes later the vessel was under way, with instructions to the master to hug the New Jersey shore while keeping a sharp lookout for The Isabel.
The detective operated his own wireless outfit and for several hours at the outset of the voyage he kept busy, interrogating the different ships bound up and down the coast, and the shore stations as well, for any information concerning the stolen yacht. Finally, a tramp steamer answered that she had passed The Isabel the day before, and that the yacht at that time was headed down the coast, going slowly, in the direction of Hampton Roads. At once, on receiving this news, Van Dusen directed that the yacht's course should be set for Cape Charles and the Roads.
As a matter of fact, without this information, the yacht must have taken this same direction for the sake of safety, since the weather soon became so threatening that none but the most foolhardy would have ventured to navigate in the open sea a vessel of The Hialdo type.
The Hialdo pushed her nose through the waters of Hampton Roads in the early morning. Both Roy and Van Dusen were on the bridge, surveying with their glasses every detail visible of the bays and creeks. They dared hope to catch somewhere a glimpse of The Isabel, for they believed that she must be secreted somewhere hereabouts in some out-of-the-way place. They were justified in this by the fact that they had received no word of the yacht's arrival from the harbor authorities of Norfolk. Yet, now, their roving scrutiny was of no avail. Nowhere could they find a trace of aught that could possibly be mistaken for The Isabel.... With the approach of night the violence of the gale became such that perforce Van Dusen gave orders for the tying up of the The Hialdo at the Norfolk port, there to await the passing of this southeaster of hurricane force.