"Warrant for murder?" Van Dusen demanded, suddenly alert, "What do you mean, Captain Jones? Has this man killed some one?"
"Wall, I reckin!" Ichabod answered grimly. "Thar was a feller a-sailin' around the wreck o' The Isabel, which, as ye see, is all busted to pieces by an explosion after she struck an' the beatin' on her of the big storm waves. When this feller looked down by the engine, he saw a dead man a-lookin' back up at him. He looked closter before he hurried away, an' saw that the poor devil was chained to the wreck. Now, that bein' the case, an' this feller that's got the gal bein' the man in charge o' the yacht, then why ain't he wanted for murder?"
Van Dusen nodded his head understandingly.
"This clears up part of the mystery," he said to Roy. "Now, if we can only catch Garnet and save Miss Marion, the case will be happily ended. The whole thing is clear in my mind, but we have still to find the proof."
"Them's the names the feller give me," the fisherman vouchsafed, "when he introduced himself to me. I 'lowed he was 'most crazy from his scare. Say, men! Do you know I think that feller was a-takin' dope, an', furthermore, since I've had time to think it over, I'm almost certain I saw him puttin' some under the gal's skin. As folks around here only use Baitman Drops or swallers pills, I took a spot on the gal's arm fer a skeeter bump. I didn't know what the shiny thing was that he slipped in his pocket when he saw me a-lookin'. Since then the Doctor has told me he 'lowed it was a hypodermic. First he called it a gun, but when he discovered that I thought he meant a shootin' iron, because I said it was too small fer that, why, then he give me the other name. O' course, I had heard that other name afore."
"This whole business is goin' to turn out just as I outlined it to you, Roy," Van Dusen asserted. "These things are unusual, but I don't think you need have any fears for Miss Marion, provided she doesn't starve, or meet with some accident through the foolhardiness of this crazy Garnet. The thing I suggest is to solicit the aid of Captain Jones, and have him act as our pilot. We should also charter several small gasoline boats and go through the waters of this shallow Sound and its tributaries like a fine-toothed comb. It's haste now that is important. We'll probably find the fellow hidden away in some remote fisherman's home where he can administer to the wants of his patient, while avoiding capture. I believe that he is, even though deranged, terrorized at the thought of arrest, so that he will not dare come out into the open. That's the reason he left the comfortable quarters of the Island."
Roy was all eagerness to begin the work forthwith, and Ichabod proffered all the assistance in his power.
"Jest a minute, men," he said, "till I swaller my coffee an' put out the fire, then Ichabod Jones will be ready to show ye every nook an' corner o' these-here waters; an' if that skunk ain't got out of 'em or gone to the bottom, we'll git him—an' git him right!"
After leaving Norfolk, The Hialdo had covered many miles. Arthur Van Dusen when he acted, moved with deliberation as well as speed. Already, on the way down, every avenue of escape had been blocked. It would have been impossible for The Isabel to escape over the route by which the pursuers had come. She would have been seized the moment she showed at any port. The thoroughness of these precautionary measures was the reason why it was not until now that The Hialdo had dropped anchor at Beaufort Inlet.
The only area that remained unsearched was the Core Sound section. The searchers had taken advantage of the night, when there was little else that they could do, to run down to the Inlet in order to find out if the yacht had passed out to sea through the channel.