The two police functionaries listened very attentively to my story without uttering a word.
I had spoken of the woman Petre as being an accomplice of the man who was a fugitive, whereupon Frémy asked:
"Do you suppose that the woman is with him?"
"She has, I believe, left England, and, therefore, in all probability, is with him."
"Are there any others of the gang—for there is, of course, a gang? Such people never act singly."
"Two other men, as far as I know. One, a young man, who acts as servant, and the other, a tall, copper-faced man with sleek black hair—probably a Peruvian native. They call him Ali, and he pretends he is a Hindu."
"A Hindu!" gasped the detective. "Why, I saw one talking to a rather stout Englishwoman at the Gare du Nord yesterday evening, just before the Orient Express left for the East!" He gave a quick description of both the man and the woman, and I at once said:
"Yes, that was certainly Ali, and the woman was Mrs. Petre!"
"They probably left by the Orient Express!" he cried, starting up, and crossing to his chief's table snatched up the orange-coloured official time table.
"Ah! yes," he exclaimed, after searching a few moments. "The Orient Express will reach Wels, in Austria, at 2.17, no time for a telegram to get through. No. The next stop is Vienna—the Westbahnhof—at 6. I will wire to the Commissary of Police to board the train, and if they are in it, to detain them."