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"BEFORE HE COULD STRIKE AGAIN, I HAD RUN HIM THROUGH." 
 
 Colonel Thorndyke' s Secret. — Frontispiece. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 llll 
 
 00022245483 
 
 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S 
 SECRET 
 
 BY 
 
 G. A. HENTY 
 
 AUTHOR OF "BY PIKE AND DYKE," "THE LION OF ST. MARK, * 
 
 "THE CAT OF BUBASTES," "BY ENGLAND'S AID," 
 
 "RUJUB THE JUGGLER," ETC. 
 
 THE MERSHON COMPANY 
 RAHWAY, N. J. NEW YORK 
 
Copyright, iqoi, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE MERSHON COMPANY* 
 
PTJBLISHEKS' INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Colonel Thorndyke's Secret " is a story so far out 
 of the ordinary that it will not be inappropriate to speak 
 a few words regarding the tale and its unusually success- 
 ful author, Mr. George Alfred Henty. 
 
 The plot of the story hinges upon the possession of a 
 valuable bracelet of diamonds, stolen from a Hindoo idol 
 by a British soldier in India. This bracelet falls into the 
 possession of Colonel Thorndyke, who, shortly afterward, 
 is sent home to England because of his wounds. The 
 secret concerning the bracelet is told to the Colonel's 
 brother, a country squire, and the treasure is left to 
 younger members of the Thorndyke family. 
 
 As is well known to-day, the theft of anything from a 
 Hindoo temple is considered an extraordinary crime in 
 India, and when this occurs it becomes a religious duty 
 for one or more persons to hunt down the thief and 
 bring back the property taken from the heathen god. 
 
 The members of the Thorndyke family soon learn that 
 they are being watched. But this is at a time when high- 
 waymen are numerous in this part of England, and they 
 cannot determine whether the work is that of the 
 " knights of the roads " or that of the Lascars after the 
 famous bracelet. A mysterious death follows, and the 
 younger members of the family are almost stunned, not 
 knowing what will happen noxt. They would give the 
 bracelet up, but do not know where it is hidden, the 
 secret having been in the sole possession of the member 
 now dead. 
 
 In this quandary the young hero of the tale rises to 
 the occasion and determines to join the London police 
 force and become a detective, with the hope of ultimately 
 clearing up the mystery. Thrilling adventures of a most 
 unusual kind follow, and at last something of the mystery 
 is explained. The bracelet and ether jewelry are un- 
 earthed, and it is decided to take the bracelet to Amster- 
 
 iii 
 
 696730 
 
iv PUBLISHERS' INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dam and offer it to the diamond-cutters at that place. 
 
 But the carrying of the bracelet is both difficult and 
 dangerous. How the mission is brought to a conclusion, 
 and what part the Lascars played in the final adventure, 
 will be found in the pages that follow. 
 
 It can truthfully be said that Mr. Henty is easily the 
 most popular of all English story-tellers, his books for 
 boys enjoying a circulation of from a hundred and fifty 
 thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand per year. 
 His tales are all clean, and although some are full of 
 exciting situations and thrilling to the last degree, they 
 are of a high moral tone, while the English employed is 
 of the best. 
 
 The present story is of peculiar value as giving a good 
 insight into country and town life in England over a 
 hundred years ago, when railways and telegraph lines 
 were unknown and when the " knights of the road " were 
 apt to hold up any stagecoach that happened to come 
 along. It also gives a truthful picture of the dark and un- 
 derhanded work accomplished at times by those of East 
 Indian blood, especially when on what they consider a 
 religious mission. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Squiee Thoendyke, of the Manor House of Crawley, 
 was, on the 1st of September, 1782, walking up and down 
 the little terrace in front of the quaint old house in an 
 unusually disturbed mood. He was a man of forty-three 
 or -four, stoutly and strongly built, and inclined to be 
 portly. Save the loss of his wife four years before, there 
 had been but little to ruffle the easy tenor of his life. A 
 younger son, he had, at his mother's death, when he was 
 three-and-twenty, come in for the small estate at Crawley, 
 which had been her jointure. 
 
 For ten years he had led a life resembling that of most 
 of his neighbors; he had hunted and shot, been a regular 
 attendant at any main of cocks that was fought within 
 fifteen miles of Crawley, had occasionally been up to 
 London for a week or two to see the gay doings there. 
 Of an evening he had generally gone down to the inn, 
 where he talked over, with two or three of his own con- 
 dition and a few of the better class of farmers, the news 
 of the day, the war with the French, the troubles in Scot- 
 land, the alarming march of the Young Pretender, and his 
 defeat at Culloden — with no very keen interest in the 
 result, for the Southern gentry and yeomen, unlike those 
 in the North, had no strong leanings either way. They 
 had a dull dislike for Hanoverian George, but no great 
 love for the exiled Stuarts, whose patron, the King of 
 France, was an enemy of England. 
 
 More often, however, their thoughts turned upon local 
 topics — the holding up of the coach of Sir James Harris 
 or Squire Hamilton by highwaymen; the affray between 
 the French smugglers and the Revenue men near Selsea 
 Bill or Shoreham; the delinquencies of the poaching 
 
2 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 gangs; the heaviness of the taxes, and the price of 
 corn. 
 
 At the age of thirty-three Squire Thorndyke married 
 the daughter of a neighboring landowner; a son was horn 
 and three years later Mrs. Thorndyke died. Since then 
 the Squire had led a more retired life; he still went down 
 to smoke his pipe at the inn parlor, hut he gave up his 
 visits to town; and cock-fights, and even bull-baiting, 
 were no longer attractions to him. He was known as a 
 good landlord to the three or four farmers who held 
 land under him; was respected and liked in the village, 
 where he was always ready to assist in cases of real dis- 
 tress; was of an easy-going disposition and on good terms 
 with all his neighbors. 
 
 But to-day he was unusually disturbed in his mind. 
 A messenger had ridden up two hours before with a letter 
 from London. It was as follows: 
 
 " My Dear Brother John: 
 
 " You will be surprised indeed at this letter from me, 
 who, doubtless, you suppose to be fighting in India. I 
 have done with fighting, and am nearly done with life. 
 I was shot in the battle of Buxar, eighteen months ago. 
 For a time the surgeons thought that it was going to be 
 fatal; then I rallied, and for some months it seemed that, 
 in spite of the ball that they were never able to find, I 
 was going to get over it, and should be fit for service 
 again. Then I got worse; first it was a cough, then the 
 blood used to come up, and they said that the only chance 
 for me was to come home. I did not believe it would be 
 of any use, but I thought that I would rather die at home 
 than in India, so home I came, and have now been a week 
 in London. 
 
 " I thought at first of going down to my place at 
 Reigate, and having you and your boy there with me; 
 but aa I have certainly not many weeks, perhaps not 
 many days, to live, I thought I would come down to you; 
 so the day after you receive this letter I shall be with 
 you. I shall not bring my little girl down; I have left 
 her- in good hands, and I shall only bring with me my 
 Hindoo servant. He will give you no trouble — a mat to 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 3 
 
 sleep on, and a little rice to eat, will satisfy his wants; 
 and he will take the trouble of me a good deal off your 
 hands. He was a Sepoy in my regiment, and has always 
 evinced the greatest devotion for me. More than once in 
 battle he has saved my life, and has, for the last three 
 years, been my servant, and has nursed me since I have 
 been ill as tenderly as a woman could have done. As I 
 shall have time to tell you everything when I arrive, I will 
 say no more now." 
 
 The news had much affected John Thorndyke. His 
 brother George was five years his senior, and had gone 
 out as a cadet in the company's service when John was 
 but thirteen, and this was his first home-coming. Had it 
 not been for a portrait that had been taken of him in his 
 uniform just before he sailed, John would have had but 
 little remembrance of him. In that he was represented 
 as a thin, spare youth, with an expression of quiet determi- 
 nation in his face. From his father John had, of course, 
 heard much about him. 
 
 " Nothing would satisfy him but to go out to India, 
 John. There was, of course, no occasion for it, as he 
 would have this place after me — a fine estate and a good 
 position: what could he want more? But he was a 
 curious fellow. Once he formed an opinion there was no 
 persuading him to change it. He was always getting 
 ideas such as no one else would think of; he did not care 
 for anything that other people cared for; never hunted 
 nor shot. He used to puzzle me altogether with his ways, 
 and, 'pon my word, I was not sorry when he said he would 
 go to India, for there was no saying how he might have 
 turned out if he had stopped here. He never could do 
 anything like anybody else: nothing that he could have 
 done would have surprised me. 
 
 " If he had told me that he intended to be a play-actor, 
 or a jockey, or a private, or a book-writer, I should not 
 have been surprised. Upon my word, it was rather a 
 relief to me when he said, 'I have made up my mind to 
 go into the East India Service, father. I suppose you 
 can get me a cadetship? ' At least that was an honorable 
 profession; and I knew, anyhow, that when he once said, 
 
4 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 'I have made up my mind, father,' no arguments would 
 move him, and that if I did not get him a cadetship he 
 was perfectly capable of running away, going up to Lon- 
 don, and enlisting in one of their white regiments." 
 
 John Thorn dyke's own remembrances were that his 
 brother had always been good-natured to him, that he 
 had often told him long stories about Indian adventures, 
 and that a short time before he went away, having heard 
 that he had been unmercifully beaten by the schoolmaster 
 at Eeigate for some trifling fault, he had gone down to 
 the town, and had so battered the man that the school 
 had to be closed for a fortnight. They had always kept 
 up a correspondence. When he received the news of his 
 father's death George had written to him, begging him 
 to go down to Eeigate, and to manage the estate for 
 him. 
 
 " Of course," he said, " you will draw its income as 
 long as you are there. I mayn't be back for another 
 twenty years; one gets rich out here fast, what with 
 plunder and presents and one thing and another, and 
 it is no use to have money accumulating at home, so just 
 live on the place as if it were your own, until I come home 
 to turn you out." 
 
 John had declined the offer. 
 
 " I am very well where I am," he wrote, " and the care 
 of the estate would be a horrible worry to me; besides, I 
 have just married, and if I ever have any children they 
 would be brought up beyond their station. I have done 
 what I can for you. I have seen the family lawyers, who 
 have engaged a man who has been steward to Sir John 
 Hieover, and looked after the estate during his son's 
 minority. But the young blade, on coming of age, set to 
 work to make ducks and drakes of the property, and New- 
 man could not bear to see the estate going to the Jews, 
 so, as luck would have it, he resigned a month ago, and 
 has been appointed steward at Eeigate. Of course, if you 
 don't like the arrangement you must write and say so. It 
 will be a year before I get your answer, and he has only 
 been engaged for certain for that time; it must lie with 
 you as to permanent arrangement." 
 
 So Newman had taken charge of the Eeigate estate, 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 5 
 
 and had continued to manage it ever since, although 
 George had written home in great displeasure at his offer 
 being refused. 
 
 Inside the Manor the bustle of preparations was going 
 on; the spare room, which had not been used for many 
 years, was being turned out, and a great fire lighted to 
 air it. John Thorndyke had sent a letter by the return- 
 ing messenger to a friend in town, begging him to go at 
 once to Leadenhall Street and send down a supply of 
 Indian condiments for his brother's use, and had then 
 betaken himself to the garden to think the matter over. 
 The next day a post-chaise arrived, bringing the invalid 
 and his colored servant, whose complexion and Indian 
 garb struck the maids with an awe not unmingled with 
 alarm. John Thorndyke could hardly believe that the 
 bent and emaciated figure was that of his brother, but 
 he remembered the voice when the latter said, holding 
 out his hand to him: 
 
 " Well, brother John, here I am, what is left of me. 
 Gracious, man! who would have thought that you were 
 going to grow up such a fine tall fellow? You are more 
 fitted to be a soldier than I am. No, don't try to help 
 me out; Eamoo will do that — he is accustomed to my 
 ways, and I would as soon trust myself to a rogue elephant 
 as to you." 
 
 " I am sorry to see you looking so bad, brother George." 
 
 " What must be must. I have had my fling; and after 
 thirty years of marching and fighting, I have no right to 
 grumble if I am laid upon my back at last." 
 
 Leaning on Ramoo's arm, Colonel Thorndyke made 
 his way into the house, and when the Hindoo had arranged 
 the cushions of the sofa, took his place there in a half- 
 reclining position. 
 
 " I am not always as bad as this, John," he said; " the 
 jolting of your confounded roads has been too much for 
 me. If I were the King I would hang every fellow who 
 had anything to do with them — contractors, boards of 
 county magistrates, and the whole lot. If I had known 
 what it was going to be like I would have hired a sedan 
 chair, and had myself carried down. That is what 1 have 
 been doing in London; but I would rather have had an 
 
6 QOLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Indian palkee, that one could have lain down comforta- 
 bly in." 
 
 " What shall I get you first, George? I have got some 
 lemons." 
 
 " I want something better than lemons, John. Have 
 vou any Burgundy handy ? " ' 
 
 " Yes, plenty." 
 
 " If you give a bottle to Kamoo he will know how much 
 water I want." 
 
 Here the servants entered with a tray with a chicken 
 and a dish of kidneys. 
 
 "I sent up yesterday for some of the Indian things 
 that you are accustomed to, George, but they have not 
 come down yet." 
 
 " I brought a store down with me. This will do 
 capitally for the present. Eamoo will do the cooking 
 for me in future. He need not go into the kitchen to 
 scare the maids. I could see they looked at him as if he 
 had been his infernal majesty, as he came in. He can 
 do it anywhere; all he wants is an iron pot with some 
 holes in it, and some charcoal. He can squat out there 
 on the veranda, or, if it is bad weather, any shed will 
 do for him. Well, it is nice to be home again, John," he 
 went on, after he had eaten a few mouthfuls of chicken 
 and drunk a tumbler of Burgundy and water. " I am 
 glad to be back, now I am here, though I dare say I 
 should not have come home for another ten years if it 
 had not been for this rascally bullet. Where is your 
 boy?" 
 
 " He is away at school." 
 
 " Well, I think I will go up to bed at once, if you 
 don't mind, John. I shall be fitter to talk in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 The next day, indeed, Colonel Thorndyke was materi- 
 ally better. His voice was stronger and more cheery, and 
 when he came down after breakfast he took his seat in 
 an easy-chair instead of on the sofa. 
 
 " Now, brother," he said, " we will have a cozy chat. 
 There are several things I want done, but the chief of 
 these is that when I am gone you should go down to Bei- 
 gate, as I wanted you to do ten years ago I want you to 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 7 
 
 seem to be its master, as well as be its master, until 
 Millicent comes of age, if not longer. Her name is Milli- 
 cent Conyers Thorndyke. I wish her to be called Milli- 
 cent Conyers, and to appear as your ward, and not as your 
 niece and heiress cf the property. If there is one thing 
 in the world I have a greater horror of than another, it 
 is of a girl being married for her money. I don't suppose 
 that anyone knows that I have a daughter — at any rate, 
 none beyond a few Indian chums. She was sent home 
 with an ayah under the charge of the widow of a comrade 
 of mine. I had been away for months, and only went 
 back to Calcutta in time to see her mother die. So that 
 is all right." 
 
 " I could not do such a thing as that, George. I should 
 be living under false colors. It is not that I mind so 
 much leaving here and looking after the child's interest 
 at Eeigate, but I could not possibly take possession of the 
 place as its owner when I should not be so. Besides, 
 there are other objections. Mark would grow up suppos- 
 ing himself to be the heir." 
 
 " Mark will be all right. I have, since I have been in 
 London, signed a will, leaving the rest of my fortune be- 
 tween them. I had it drawn up by our father's solicitors, 
 relying upon your consent to do what I asked you. I 
 have explained the matter to them, and given them the 
 assignment, or whatever they call it, of the Reigate estate 
 to you, until my daughter comes of age, appointing them 
 her guardians should you die before that. Thus, you will 
 be placed in a proper position; and should it be known by 
 any means that the child is my daughter, that deed will 
 still be a proof that you are carrying out my wishes, and 
 are absolute master of the estate until she comes of age." 
 
 " I must think it all over, George. It is a singular pro- 
 posal, and I own I would rather things went on in their 
 regular course." 
 
 "Yes, yes, I understand that, John; but you see I have 
 altogether set my mind on this matter. I want to know 
 that my girl is not going to be married for her money; 
 and, at any rate, that deed makes you master of the 
 Reigate estates for the next thirteen years; so the only 
 thing that I really want of you is to let the girl be called 
 
8 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 your ward instead of your niece, and that she and every- 
 one else shall be in ignorance that she is an heiress. So 
 far from doing the girl a wrong, you will be doing her a 
 benefit; and as I have explained the whole matter to our 
 lawyers, no one can possibly think that the thing has been 
 done from any motive whatever except that of affording 
 me satisfaction." 
 
 " I will think the matter over," John repeated. " Of 
 course, brother, it has been in your mind for some time, 
 but it comes altogether fresh to me, and I must look at 
 it in every light. For myself, I have no wish at all to 
 become master of our father's estate. I have been going 
 in one groove for the last twenty years, and don't care 
 about changing it. You wished me to do so ten years 
 ago, and I declined then, and the ten years have not made 
 me more desirious of change than I was before." 
 
 " All right; think it over. Please send Eamoo in to 
 me; I have tired myself in talking." 
 
 John Thorndyke smoked many churchwarden pipes in 
 the little arbor in his garden that day. In the afternoon 
 his brother was so weak and tired that the subject of the 
 conversation was not reverted to. At eight o'clock the 
 Colonel went off to bed. The next morning, after break- 
 fast, he was brighter again. 
 
 "Well, John, what has come of your thinking?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " I don't like it, George." 
 
 " You mayn't like it, John, but you will do it. I am 
 not going to have my girl run after by ruined spendthrifts 
 who want her money to repair their fortunes; and I tell 
 you frankly, if you refuse I shall go up to town to-morrow, 
 and I shall make a new will, leaving all my property to 
 your son, subject to a life annuity of £200 a year to the 
 child, and ordering that, in the event of his dying before 
 he comes of age, or of refusing to accept the provisions 
 of the will, or handing any of the property or money over 
 to my daughter, the whole estate, money, jewels, and all, 
 shall go to the London hospitals, subject, as before, to 
 the annuity. 
 
 " Don't be an ass, brother John. Do you think that 
 I don't know what I am doing? I have seen enough of 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 9 
 
 the evils of marrying for money out in India. Every ship 
 that comes out brings so many girls sent out to some 
 relation to be put on the marriage market, and marrying 
 men old enough to be pretty nearly their grandfathers, 
 with the natural consequence that there is the devil to- 
 pay before they have been married a year or two. Come, 
 you know you will do it; why not give in at once, and have 
 done with it? It is not a bad thing for you, it will be a 
 good thing for your boy, it will save my girl from fortune- 
 hunters, and enable me to die quietly and comfortably." 
 
 " All right, George, I will do it. Mind, I don't do it 
 willingly, but I do it for your sake." 
 
 " That is right," Colonel Thorndyke said, holding out 
 his thin bronzed hand to his brother; " that is off my 
 mind. Now, there is only one other thing — those con- 
 founded jewels. But I won't talk about them now." 
 
 It was not indeed till three or four days later that the 
 Colonel again spoke to his brother on any than ordinary 
 matters. He had indeed been very weak and ailing. 
 After breakfast, when, as usual, he was a little stronger 
 and brighter than later in the day, he said to his brother 
 suddenly: 
 
 " I suppose there are no hiding-places in this room? " 
 
 " Hiding-places! What do you mean, George? " 
 
 " Places where a fellow could hide up and hear what 
 we are talking about." 
 
 " No, I don't think so," the Squire replied, looking 
 round vaguely. " Such an idea never occurred to me. 
 Why do you ask? " 
 
 " Because, John, if there is such a thing as a hiding- 
 place, someone will be sure to be hiding there. Where 
 does that door lead to?" 
 
 "It doesn't lead anywhere; it used to lead into the 
 next room, but it was closed up before my time, and 
 turned into a cupboard, and this door is permanently 
 closed." 
 
 " Do you mind stepping round into the next room and 
 seeing if anyone is in the cupboard? " 
 
 Thinking that his brother was a little light-headed, 
 John Thorndyke went into the next room, and returned, 
 saying gravely that no one was there. 
 
10 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " Will you look behind the curtains, John, and under 
 this sofa, and everywhere else where even a cat could he 
 hidden. That seems all right," the Colonel went on, as 
 his brother continued the search. " You know there is 
 a saying that walls have ears, and I am not sure that it 
 is not so. I have been haunted with the feeling that 
 everything I did was watched, and that everything I said 
 was listened to for years; and I can tell you it is a 
 devilishly unpleasant thought. Draw your chair quite 
 close to me. It is about my jewels, John. I always had 
 a fancy for jewels — not to wear them, but to own them. 
 In my time I have had good opportunities in that way, 
 both in the Madras Presidency and in the Carnatic. In 
 the first place, I have never cared for taking presents in 
 money, but I have never refused jewels; and what with 
 Eajahs and Nabobs and Ministers that one had helped 
 or done a good turn to somehow, a good deal came to me 
 that way. 
 
 (t Then I always made a point of carrying money with 
 me, and after a defeat of the enemy or a successful siege, 
 there was always lots of loot, and the soldiers were glad 
 enough to sell anything in the way of jewels for a tithe 
 of their value in gold. I should say if I put the value 
 of the jewels at £50,000 I am not much wide of the 
 mark. That is all right, there is no bother about them; 
 the trouble came from a diamond bracelet that I got 
 from a soldier. We were in camp near Tanjore. I was 
 officer of the day. I had made my rounds, and was com- 
 ing back to my quarters, when I saw a soldier coming out 
 of a tent thirty or forty yards away. It was a moonlight 
 night, and the tent was one belonging to a white Madras 
 regiment. Suddenly, I saw another figure, that had been 
 lying down outside the tent, rise. I saw the flash of the 
 moonlight on steel; then there was a blow, and the soldier 
 fell. I drew my sword and rushed forward. 
 
 " The native- — for I could see that it was a native — was 
 bending over the man he had stabbed. His back was 
 towards me, and on the sandy soil he did not hear my 
 footsteps until I was close to him; then he sprang up 
 with a cry of fury, and leaped on me like a tiger. I was 
 so taken by surprise that before I could use my sword 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 11 
 
 the fellow had given me a nasty stab on the shoulder; 
 but before he could strike again I had run him through. 
 By this time several other men ran out of the tent, 
 uttering exclamations of rage at seeing their fallen com- 
 rade. 
 
 " ' What is it, sir? ' they asked me. 
 
 " ' This scoundrel, here; has stabbed your comrade/ I 
 said. • He did not see me coming, and I ran up just as 
 he was, I think, rifling him for booty. He came at me 
 like a wild cat, and has given me a nasty stab. How- 
 ever, I have put an end to his game. Is your comrade 
 dead?" 
 
 "'No, sir, he is breathing still; but I fancy there is 
 little chance for him.' 
 
 " ' You had better carry him to the hospital tent at 
 once; I will send a surgeon there.' 
 
 " I called the regimental surgeon up, and went with 
 him to the hospital tent, telling him what had happened. 
 He shook his head after examining the man's wound, 
 which was fairly between the shoulders. 
 
 " ' He may live a few hours, but' there is no chance of 
 his getting better.' 
 
 " ' Now,' I said, ' you may as well have a look at my 
 wound, for the villain stabbed me too.' 
 
 " ' You have had a pretty narrow escape of it,' he said, 
 as he examined it. ' If he had struck an inch or two 
 nearer the shoulder the knife would have gone right into 
 you; but you see I expect he was springing as he struck, 
 and the blow fell nearly perpendicularly, and it glanced 
 clown over your ribs, and made a gash six inches long. 
 There is no danger. I will bandage it now, and to-morrow 
 morning I will sew the edges together, and make a proper 
 job of it.' 
 
 " In the morning one of the hospital attendants came 
 to me and said the soldier who had been wounded wanted 
 to speak to me. The doctor said he would not live long. 
 I went across to him. He was on a bed some little dis- 
 tance from any of the others, for it was the healthy 
 season, and there were only three or four others in the 
 tent. 
 
 " ' I hear, Major Thorndyke/ he said in a low voice, 
 
12 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 ' that you killed that fellow who gave me this wound, 
 and that you yourself were stabbed.' 
 
 " ' Mine is not a serious business, my man/ I said. c I 
 wish you had got off as easily.' 
 
 " ' I have been expecting it, sir,' he said; ' and how I 
 came to be fool enough to go outside the tent by myself 
 I cannot think. I was uneasy, and could not sleep; I 
 felt hot and feverish, and came out for a breath of fresh 
 air. I will tell you what caused it, sir. About two years 
 ago a cousin of mine, in one of the King's regiments, who 
 was dying, they said, of fever (but I know the doctors 
 thought he had been poisoned), said to me, " Here are 
 some things that will make your fortune if ever you get 
 to England; but I tell you beforehand, they are dan- 
 gerous things to keep about you. I fancy that they have 
 something to do with my being like this now. A year ago 
 I went with some others into one of their great temples 
 on a feast day. Well, the god had got on all his trinkets, 
 and among them was a bracelet with the biggest diamonds 
 I ever saw. I did not think so much of it at the time, but 
 I kept on thinking of them afterwards, and it happened 
 that some months after our visit we took the place by 
 storm. I made straight for the temple, and I got the 
 jewels. It don't matter how I got them — I got them. 
 Well, since that I have never had any peace; pretty near 
 every night one or other of our tents was turned topsy- 
 turvy, all the kits turned out, and even the ground 
 dug up with knives. You know how silently Indian 
 thieves can work. However, nothing was ever stolen, and 
 as for the diamonds, at the end of every day's march I 
 always went out as soon as it was quite dark, and buried the 
 bracelet between the tent pegs; it did not take a minute 
 to do. When we moved, of course, I took it up again. At 
 last I gave that up, for however early I turned out in the 
 morning there was sure to be a native about. I took then 
 to dropping it down the barrel of my gun; that way I 
 beat them. Still, I have always somehow felt myself 
 watched, and my tent has been disturbed a great deal 
 oftener than any of the others. I have had half a mind 
 to throw the things away many a time, but I could not 
 bring myself to do it." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 13 
 
 " ' Well, sir, I have carried the bracelet ever since. I 
 have done as he did, and always had it in my musket 
 barrel. When we had fighting to do I would drop it out 
 into my hand and slip it into my ammunition pouch; but 
 I know that I have always been followed, just as Bill was. 
 I suppose they found out that I went to see him before he 
 died. Anyhow, my tent has been rummaged again and 
 again. I have no doubt that fellow whom you killed last 
 night had been watching me all the time, and thought 
 that I had come out to hide the things. However, there 
 they are, sir. One of my mates brought my musket here 
 a quarter of an hour ago, and emptied the barrel out for 
 me. Now, sir, you did your best to save my life last 
 night, and you killed that fellow who did for me, and 
 you pretty nearly got killed yourself. I have got no one 
 else I could give the things to, and if I were to give them 
 to one of my mates in the regiment they would proba- 
 bly cost him his life, as they have cost me mine. But 
 you will know what to do with the things; they are worth 
 a lot of money if you can get them home. Mind, sir, 
 you have got to be careful. I have heard tales of how 
 those priests will follow up a temple jewel that has been 
 lost for years, and never give it up until they get it back 
 again.' 
 
 " ' I ought to give it up/ I said. 
 
 " ' You don't know where it came from, sir,' he replied. 
 ' I was one of a party of convalescents who were sent up 
 just before that fight, and my own regiment was not 
 there: it might have been here, and it might have been 
 in the Carnatic. Bill never told me, and I have no more 
 idea than a babe unborn.' 
 
 " The gems were certainly magnificent; and though I 
 knew well enough that these untiring Brahmins would 
 not be long in guessing that the things had come into 
 my possession, I took the bracelet. I thought, anyhow, 
 that I might have a few hours' start; the fellow I had 
 killed might, of course, have one or two others with him, 
 but I had to risk that. I got leave an hour later, and 
 went down to Madras, and got them put into a place of 
 safety. That I was watched all the time I was in India 
 afterwards I have no doubt, but no attempts were made 
 
14 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 to assassinate me. They would have known that I went 
 straight away, but whether I had buried them somewhere 
 on the road, or had given them to someone^s care at 
 Madras they could not know, and there was, therefore, 
 nothing for them to do but to wait till I made a move. 
 
 " I have no doubt whatever that they came over in the 
 same ship with me. Two or three times during the week 
 I was in London I saw colored men in the street outside 
 the hotel. Once it was a Lascar seaman, another time 
 a dark-looking sailor in European clothes: he might pass 
 for a Spaniard. Several times as I was going about in a 
 sedan chair I looked out suddenly, and each time there 
 was a dark face somewhere in the street behind. I had a 
 letter this morning from the lawyer, and he mentioned 
 that two days ago his offices had been broken into, and 
 every strong box and drawer forced open, but that, 
 curiously enough, they could not find that anything had 
 been stolen, though in the cashier's box there were £30 
 in gold. Of course it was my friends. I have no doubt 
 that one or two of them have followed me down here; 
 and for anything I know they may be lurking somewhere 
 in your garden at the present moment — that is, if they 
 are not standing beside us in this room." 
 
 John Thorndyke looked round with an uncomfortable 
 feeling. 
 
 " How do you mean, George? " 
 
 " I mean some of those Indian fellows can do all sorts 
 of wonderful conjuring tricks. I have seen them go up 
 into the air on a rope and never come down again, and 
 for aught I know they may be able to render them- 
 selves invisible. Seriously, I think that it is likelv as 
 not." 
 
 " Well, and where are the things to be found now, 
 George? " 
 
 " That I won't tell you, John. Before I go I will 
 whisper it in your ear, and give you the means of finding 
 them, but not till then. ISTo, I will write it down on a 
 piece of paper, and slip it into your hand. As soon as 
 you get out of the room you glance at it, and then put the 
 piece of paper into your moiith, chew it up and swallow 
 it. I tell you I dare not even whisper it; but whatever 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE 'S SECRET. 15 
 
 you do, take no steps in the matter until your son comes 
 of age." 
 
 " There can surely be no danger in another twelve 
 years, George; they will have given up the search long 
 before that." 
 
 " Not they," the Colonel said emphatically. " If they 
 die others will take their places: it is a sacred business 
 with them. My advice to you is, either sell them di- 
 rectly you get them into your hands, or go straight to 
 Amsterdam and sell them there to one of the diamond 
 cutters, who will turn them out so that they will be 
 altered beyond all recognition. Don't sell more than two 
 stones at most to any one man; then they will never 
 come out as a bracelet again, and the hunt will be over." 
 
 " I would almost rather leave them alone altogether, 
 George." 
 
 " Well, they are worth £50,000 if they are worth a 
 penny, and a great deal more, I should say; but you can- 
 not leave them alone without leaving everything alone, 
 for all my gems are with them, and £52,000 in g-ld. Of 
 course, if you like you can, when you get the box, pick 
 those diamonds out and chuck them away, but if you do 
 you must do it openly, so that anyone watching you may 
 see you do it, otherwise the search will go on." 
 
 Two days later, as Kamoo was helping the Colonel to 
 the sofa, the latter was seized with a violent fit of cough- 
 ing, then a rush of blood poured from his lips. His 
 brother and Eamoo laid him on the sofa almost in- 
 sensible. 
 
 " Eun and get some water, Ramoo," John Thorndyke 
 said. 
 
 As Ramoo left the room the Colonel feebly placed bis 
 snuffbox in his brother's hand with a significant glance; 
 then he made several desperate efforts to speak, and 
 tried to struggle up into a sitting position; another gush 
 of blood poured from him, and as it ceased he fell back 
 dead. 
 
 John Thorndyke was bitterly grieved at the death of 
 his brother, and it was not until he went up to his room 
 that night that he thought of the snuffbox that he had 
 dropped into his pocket as his brother handed it to him. 
 
16 COLONEL TEOBNDYKES SECRET. 
 
 He had no doubt that it contained the instructions as to 
 the treasure. It was of Indian manufacture. He emptied 
 the snuff from it, but it contained nothing else. He was 
 convinced that the secret must be hidden there, and after 
 in vain endeavoring to find a spring, he took a poker and 
 hammered it, and as it bent a spring gave way, and showed 
 a very shallow false bottom. 
 
 In this was a thin gold coin, evidently of considerable 
 antiquity, and a small piece of paper, on which was writ- 
 ten the word " Masulipatam." John Thorndyke looked 
 at it in bewilderment; that it was connected with the 
 secret he felt certain, but alone it was absolutely useless. 
 Doubtless his brother had intended to give him the key 
 of the riddle when he had so desperately striven to speak. 
 After in vain thinking the matter over he said: 
 
 " Well, thank goodness, there is nothing to be done 
 about the matter for another thirteen or fourteen years; 
 it is of no use worrying about it now." He went to an 
 old-fashioned cabinet, and placed the coin and piece of 
 paper in a very cunningly devised secret drawer. The 
 next morning he went out into the garden and dropped the 
 battered snuffbox into the well, and then dismissed the 
 subject from his mind. 
 
CHAPTER IT 
 
 Standing some two miles out of Eeigate is the Tillage 
 of Crowswood, a quiet place and fairly well-to-do, thanks 
 in no small degree to Squire Thorndj^ke, who owned the 
 whole of the parish, and by whom and his tenants the 
 greater portion of the village were employed. 
 
 Greatly had the closing of the Manor House, after the 
 death of old Squire Thorndyke, been felt. There were 
 no more jellies, soups, and other comforts to be looked 
 for in time of sickness, no abatement of rent when the 
 breadwinner was sick or disabled, no check to the drunk- 
 ards, whom the knowledge that they would be turned out 
 of their cottage at a week's notice kept in some sort of 
 order. When, therefore, after ten years of absence of 
 all government, John Thorndyke, after the death of his 
 brother, the Colonel, came down and took possession, he 
 found the place sadly changed from what it had been 
 when he had left it twenty years before. His first act was 
 to dismiss Newman, who, completely unchecked, had, he 
 found, been sadly mismanaging affairs. 
 
 It was not long, however, before his hand made itself 
 felt. Two out of the three public houses were shut up in 
 six months, a score of their habitual frequenters had, 
 weeks before, been turned out of their houses, an order 
 had been issued that unless a cottage was kept in good 
 order and the garden bright and blooming with flowers 
 in the summer a fresh tenant would be found for it. 
 Every child must be sent to the village school; the Squire 
 was ready to do what there was to be done in the way of 
 thatching and whitewashing, repairing palings and paint- 
 ing doors and windows, but, as he told the people, the vil- 
 lage had to be kept clean and decent, and anyone who 
 would not conform to the rules was at liberty to leave 
 without a day's notice. 
 
 Many of the villagers grumbled under their breath, but 
 
 17 
 
18 COLONEL THORNDYKE* S SECRET. 
 
 public opinion was, on the whole, favorable. There was 
 someone to look after them now, someone who would see 
 that the geater portion of the wages was not spent at 
 the alehouse, who would take an interest in the people, 
 and would lend a helping hand in bad times. There was 
 a feeling of regret that the Squire was a widower, but 
 the post of visitor and almoner was well supplied by the 
 lady who acted as companion and governess to the 
 Squire's little ward and regulated the affairs of his 
 household. 
 
 John Thorndyke had never had much occasion for the 
 display of energy before, but he had an abundance of it, 
 although hitherto latent. He had come into this business 
 against his will, but he took it up with a determination 
 to do well in it. The income was legally his until his 
 niece came of age, but he was determined he would take 
 nothing out of the estate beyond the necessary expenses 
 of the position, and that all surplus should be expended 
 in improving it in every way possible, so that he could 
 hand it over to her in the most perfect condition. There- 
 fore, when he came into possession he made a close in- 
 spection of the farms, with their houses, barns, and other 
 tenements. Where he saw that the men were doing their 
 best, that the hedges and fields were in good order, he 
 did everything that was necessary without a word; but 
 where there were slovenly farming and signs of neglect and 
 carelessness, he spoke out his mind sharply. 
 
 " This has all got to be amended," he said. " What 
 must be done I will do, but unless I see things well kept 
 up, the fences in good order, the hedges cut, the cattle in 
 good condition, and everything going on as it ought to 
 be, out you go next Christmas. The estate at present is 
 a disgrace to the county, but it shall not be so any longer 
 if 1 can help it. I shall do my share, and anyone who is 
 not prepared to do the same had better look out for 
 another holding at once." 
 
 No one rejoiced more at the coming home of the Squire 
 than Mr. Bastow, the Rector. He had had a pleasant 
 time of it during the life of the old Squire. He was 
 always a welcome guest at the house; Mr. Thorndyke had 
 been every ready to put his hand into his pocket for any 
 
COLONEL THORNBTKE'S SECRET. 19 
 
 repairs needed for the church, and bore on his shoulders 
 almost the entire expense of the village school. In the 
 latter respect there had been no falling off, he having 
 given explicit instructions to his soldiers to pay his usual 
 annual subscriptions to the school until his son's return 
 from India. But with the death of the Squire the Eector 
 had gradually lost all authority in the village. 
 
 For a time force of habit had had its effect, but as this 
 wore out and the people recognized that he had no real 
 authority things went from bad to worse. Drunken men 
 would shout jeeringly as they passed the Eectory on their 
 way home from the alehouse; women no longer feared 
 reproof for the untidiness of their houses and children; 
 the school was half emptied and the church almost 
 wholly so. 
 
 For seven or eight years Mr. Bastow had a hard time 
 of it. It was, then, both with pleasure as an old friend, 
 and with renewed hopefulness for the village, that he 
 visited John Thorndyke on his return. 
 
 The change in the state of affairs was almost instanta- 
 neous. As soon as it became known that the Eector 
 was backed, heart and soul, by the Squire's authority, and 
 that a complaint from him was followed the next day by 
 a notice to quit at the end of a week, his own authority 
 was established as firmly as it had been in the old Squire's 
 time, and in a couple of years Orowswood became quite 
 a model village. Every garden blossomed with flowers; 
 roses and eglantine clustered over the cottages, neatness 
 and order prevailed everywhere. The children were tidily 
 dressed and respectful in manner, the women bright and 
 cheerful, and the solitary alehouse remaining had but few 
 customers, and those few were never allowed to transgress 
 the bounds of moderation. The Squire had a talk with the 
 landlord a fortnight after his arrival. 
 
 " I am not going to turn you out, Peters," he said. " I 
 hear that you make some efforts to keep your house de- 
 cently; the other two I shall send packing directly their 
 terms are up. Whether you remain permanently must 
 depend upon yourself. I will do up your house for you, 
 and build a bar parlor alongside, where quiet men can sit 
 and smoke their pipes and talk and take their beer in 
 
20 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET 
 
 comfort, and have liberty to enjoy themselves as long as 
 their enjoyment does not cause annoyance to other peo- 
 ple or keep their wives and children in rags. I will do 
 anything for you if I find the place well conducted; but 
 I warn you that I will have no drunkenness. A man who, 
 to my knowledge, gets drunk twice, will not get drunk a 
 third time in this parish, and if 3 r ou let men get drunk 
 here it is your fault as much as theirs. Now we under- 
 stand each other." 
 
 Things once placed on a satisfactory footing, the Squire 
 had but little more trouble, and it soon came to be under- 
 stood that he was not to be trifled with, and that Crows- 
 wood was no longer a place for thelidle or shiftless. Two 
 or three of the farmers left at the termination of their 
 year, but better men took their places, and John Thorn- 
 dyke, having settled matters to his satisfaction, now began 
 to attend more to other affairs. He hrfd been, when _he 
 first came back, welcomed with great heartiness by all the 
 gentry of the neighborhood; his father had been a popu- 
 lar man, and young Thorndyke had been regarded as a 
 pleasant young fellow, and would in any case have been 
 welcomed, if only because Crowswood had become a 
 nuisance to the whole district. It was, indeed, a sort of 
 rendezvous for poachers and bad characters, it was more 
 than suspected that gangs of thieves and burglars made 
 it their headquarters, and that even highwaymen found 
 it a convenient and quiet resort. 
 
 Thus, then, the transformation effected within a few 
 months of Mr. Thorndyke's return caused general and 
 lively satisfaction, and a year later he was put on the 
 Commission of the Peace, and became one of the most 
 regular attendants at the Bench of Magistrates. Ee- 
 luctantly as he had taken up his present position, he 
 found it, as time went on, a pleasant one. He had not 
 been conscious before that time hung somewhat heavily 
 on his hands, but here he had duties to perform and am- 
 ple employment. His nature was naturally somewhat a 
 masterful one, and both as a magistrate and a landlord 
 he had scope and power of action. Occasionally he went 
 up to London, always driving his gig, with a pair of fast 
 trotting horses, and was known to the frequenters of the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 21 
 
 coffee-houses chiefly patronized by country gentlemen. 
 Altogether, John Thorndyke became quite a notable per- 
 son in the district, and men were inclined to congratu- 
 late themselves upon the fact that he, and not the Indian 
 officer, his brother, had come into the estate. 
 
 The idea of an old Indian officer in those days was that 
 he was almost of necessity an invalid, and an irritable 
 one, with a liver hopelessly deranged, a yellow com- 
 plexion, and a hatred of the English climate. The fact 
 that, instead of leaving the army and coming home at his 
 father's death, George Thorndyke had chosen to remain 
 abroad and leave the estate to the management of agents, 
 had specially prejudiced him in the eyes of the people of 
 that part, and had heightened the warmth with which 
 they had received his brother. John Thorndyke had 
 upon the occasion of his first visit to the family solicitors 
 spoken his mind with much freedom as to the manner in 
 which Newman had been allowed a free hand. 
 
 " Another ten years," he said, " and there would not 
 have been a cottage habitable on the estate, nor a farm 
 worth cultivating. He did absolutely nothing beyond 
 collecting the rents. He let the whole place go to rack 
 and ruin. The first day I arrived I sent him out of the 
 house, with a talking-to that he won't forget as long as 
 he lives." 
 
 " We never heard any complaints about him, Mr. 
 Thorndyke, except that I think we did once hear from 
 the Eector of the place that his conduct was not satis- 
 factory. I remember that we wrote to him about it, and 
 he said that the Eector was a malignant fellow, on bad 
 terms with all his parishioners." 
 
 " If I had the scoundrel here," John Thorndyke said 
 with indignation, " I would let him have a taste of the 
 lash of my dog-whip. You should not have taken the 
 fellow's word; you should have sent down someone to 
 find out the true state of things. Why, the place has 
 been an eyesore to the whole neighborhood, the resort 
 of poaching, thieving rascals; by gad, if my brother 
 George had gone down there I don't know what would 
 have happened! It will cost a couple of years' rent to 
 get things put straight." 
 
22 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 When the Squire was at home there was scarce an even- 
 ing when the Eector did not come up to smoke a pipe and 
 take his glass of old Jamaica or Hollands with him. 
 
 " Look here, Bastow," the latter said, some three years 
 after his return, " what are you going to do with that 
 boy of yours? I hear bad reports of him from everyone; 
 he gets into broils at the alehouse, and I hear that he 
 consorts with a bad lot of fellows down at Reigate. One 
 of my tenants — I won't mention names — complained to 
 me that he had persecuted his daughter with his atten- 
 tions. They say he was recognized among that poaching 
 gang that had an affray with Sir James Hartrop's keepers. 
 The thing is becoming a gross scandal." 
 
 " I don't know what to do about him, Squire; the boy 
 has always' been a trouble to me. You see, before you 
 came home, he got into bad hands in the village here. 
 Of course they have all gone, but several of them only 
 moved as far as Reigate, and he kept up their acquaint- 
 ance. I thrashed him again and again, but he has got 
 beyond that now, you see; he is nearly eighteen, and 
 openly scoffs at my authority. Upon my word, I don't 
 know what to do in the matter." 
 
 " He is growing up a thorough young ruffian," the 
 Squire said indignantly, " and one of these mornings I 
 expect to see him brought up before us charged with 
 some serious offense. We had to fine him last week for 
 being drunk and making a disturbance down at Reigate. 
 Why do you let him have money? You may have no 
 authority over him, but at least you should refuse to 
 open your purse to him. Don't you see that this sort of 
 thing is not only a disgrace to him, but very prejudicial 
 to the village? What authority can you have for speak- 
 ing against vice and drunkenness, when your son is con- 
 stantly intoxicated?" 
 
 " I see that, Squire — none better; and I have thought 
 of resigning my cure." 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense. Parson! If the young fellow 
 persists in his present course he must leave the village, 
 that is clear enough; but that is no reason why you 
 should. The question is what is to be done with him? 
 The best thing he could do would be to enlist. He 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE' S SECRET. 23 
 
 might be of some service to his country, in India or the 
 American Colonies, but so far as I can see he is only 
 qualifying himself for a jail here." 
 
 " I have told him as much, Squire," Mr. Bastow said, 
 in a depressed voice, " and he has simply laughed in my 
 face, and said that he was very comfortable where he was, 
 and had no idea whatever of moving." 
 
 " What time does he go out in the morning? " John 
 Thorndyke asked abruptly. 
 
 " He never gets up till twelve o'clock, and has his 
 breakfast when I take my dinner." 
 
 " Well, I will come in to-morrow morning and have a 
 talk with him myself." 
 
 The next day the Squire rode up to the door of the 
 Rectory soon after one o'clock. Mr. Bastow had just 
 finished his meal; his sou, a young fellow of between 
 seventeen and eighteen, was lolling in an easy-chair. 
 
 "I have come in principally to speak to you, young 
 sir," John Thorndyke said quietly. " I have been asking 
 your father what you intend to do with yourself. He 
 says he does not know." 
 
 The young fellow looked up with an air of insolent 
 effrontery. 
 
 " I don't know that it is any business of yours, Mr. 
 Thorndyke, what T do with myself." 
 
 " Oh, yes, it is," the Squire replied. " This village 
 and the people in it are mine. You are disturbing the 
 village with your blackguard conduct; you are annoying 
 some of the girls on the estate, and altogether you are 
 making yourself a nuisance. I stopped at the alehouse as 
 I came here, and have ordered the landlord to draw no 
 more liquor for you, and unless you amend your conduct, 
 and that quickly, I will have you out of the village 
 altogether." 
 
 " I fancy, Mr. Thorndyke, that, even as a justice of the 
 peace, you have not the power to dictate to my father 
 who shall be the occupant of this house." 
 
 " What you say is perfectly true; but as you make your 
 father's life a burden to him, and lie is desirous of your 
 absence, I can and will order the village constable to re- 
 move you from his house by force, if necessary." 
 
24 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 The young fellow cast an evil glance at his father. 
 
 " He has not been complaining, has he ? " he said, with 
 a sneer. 
 
 " He has not, sir," John Thorndyke said indignantly. 
 " It is I who have been complaining to him, and he admits 
 that you are altogether beyond his authority. I have 
 pointed out to him that he is in no way obliged to support 
 you at your age in idleness and dissipation, and that it 
 were best for him and all concerned that he should close 
 his doors to you. I don't want to have to send the son of 
 my old friend to prison, but I can see well enough that 
 that is what it will come to if you don't give up your evil 
 courses. I should think you know by this time that I 
 am a man of my word. I have taken some pains to purge 
 this village of all bad characters, and I do not intend to 
 have an exception made of the son of the clergyman, who, 
 in his family as well as in his own person, is bound to set 
 an example." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Thorndyke, I utterly decline to obey your 
 orders or to be guided by your advice." 
 
 " Very well, sir," the magistrate said sternly. " Mr. 
 Bastow, do I understand that you desire that your son 
 shall no longer remain an inmate of your house? " 
 
 " I do," the clergyman said firmly; " and if he does so I 
 have no other course before me but to resign my liv- 
 ing: my position here has become absolutely unbear- 
 able." 
 
 " Very well, sir, then you will please lock your doors 
 to-night, and if he attempts to enter, I, as a magistrate, 
 should know how to deal with him. Now, young sir, you 
 understand your position; you may not take my advice, 
 nevertheless, I shall give it you. The best thing you can 
 do is to take your place for town on the outside of the 
 coach that comes through Eeigate this afternoon, and 
 to-morrow morning proceed either to the recruiting offi- 
 cer for His Majesty's service, or to that for the East India 
 Company's. You have health and strength, you will get 
 rid at once of your bad associates, and will start afresh 
 in a life in which you may redeem your past and be useful 
 to your king and country." 
 
 Young Bastow smiled. 
 
COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 25 
 
 " Thanks," he said sarcastically. " I have my own 
 plans, and shall follow them." 
 
 " I think, Mr. Bastow," the Squire said quietly, " it 
 would just be as well for you to come home with me. I 
 don't think that the leave-taking is likely to be an affec- 
 tionate one." 
 
 The Eector rose at once. 
 
 " I will come with you, Squire. I may tell you now, 
 what I have not told you before, that my son has more 
 than once raised his hand against me, and that I do not 
 care to be left alone with him." 
 
 " I judged him capable even of that, Mr. Bastow." 
 
 " Good-by, Arthur," his father said. " My heart is 
 ready to break that it has come to this; but for both our 
 sakes it is better so. Good-by, my son, and may Heaven 
 /ead you to better ways! If ever you come to me and 
 say, ' Father, I have turned over a new leaf, and heartily 
 repent the trouble I have caused you,' you will receive a 
 hearty welcome from me, and no words of reproach for 
 the past." 
 
 The young man paid no attention to the offered hand, 
 but laughed scornfully. 
 
 " You have not got rid of me yet," he said. " As for 
 you, Squire Thorndyke, I shall not forget your meddle- 
 some interference, and some day, mavbe, you will be sorry 
 for it." 
 
 " I think not," John Thorndyke said gravely. " I am 
 doing my duty to the village, and still more I am doing 
 my duty to an old friend, and I am not likely ever to 
 feel any regret that I have so acted. Now, Parson, let's 
 be off." 
 
 After leaving the house with the clergyman, the Squire 
 stopped at the house of Knapp, the village constable, and 
 said a few words to him, then, leading his horse, walked 
 home with Mr. Bastow. 
 
 " Don't be cast down, old friend," he said. " It is a 
 terrible trial to you; but it is one sharp wrench, and then 
 it will be over. Anything is better than what you must 
 have been suffering for some time." 
 
 " I quite feel that, Squire; my life has indeed been 
 intolerable of late. I had a painful time before, but 
 
26 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 always looked forward with hope to your brother coming 
 home. Since you returned, and matters in the parish 
 have been put straight, this trouble has come in to take 
 the place of the other, and I have felt that I. would 
 rather resign and beg for charity than see my son going 
 from bad to worse, a scandal to the parish, and a hindrance 
 to all good work." 
 
 " It is a bad business, Bastow, and it seems to me that 
 two or three years in prison would be the best thing for 
 him, as he will not take up the only trade open to him. 
 At any rate, it would separate him from his evil associates, 
 and give you peace while he is behind the bars. Where 
 does he get his money? " 
 
 " That I know not, Squire. He takes some from me 
 ■ — it used to be done secretly, now it is done with threats, 
 and, as I told you, with violence — but that would not 
 account for his always having money. He must get it 
 somewhere else, for when I have paid my bills, as I always 
 do the hour that I receive money, there is but little over 
 for him to take. He is often away all night, sometimes 
 for two or three days together, and I dare not think what 
 he does with himself; but certainly he gets money some- 
 how, and I am afraid that I cannot hope it is honestly 
 obtained." 
 
 " I do not well see how it can be," the Squire agreed. 
 " If I had before known as much as j r ou tell me now, I 
 would have taken some steps to have him watched, and 
 to nip the matter before it went too far. Do you think 
 that he will take your notice, and come no more to the 
 house? " 
 
 Mr. Bastow shook his head. 
 
 " I fear that the only effect will be to make him worse; 
 even when he was quite a small boy punishment only 
 had that effect with him. He will come back to-night 
 probably half-drunk, and certainly furious at my having 
 ventured to lay the case before you." 
 
 " You must lock the doors and bar the windows." 
 
 " I did that when he first took to being out at night, 
 but he always managed to get in somehow." 
 
 " Well, it must be all put a stop to, Bastow; and I will 
 come back with you this evening, and if this young rascal 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 27 
 
 breaks into the house I will have hirn down at Eeigate 
 to-morrow on the charge of housebreaking; or, at any rate, 
 I will threaten to do so if he does not give a promise that 
 he will in future keep away from you altogether." 
 
 " I shall be glad, at any rate, if you will come down, 
 Squire, for, to say the truth, I feel uneasy as to the steps 
 he may take in his fury at our conversation just now." 
 
 John Thorndyke took down from a wall a heavy hunt- 
 ing-whip, as he went out with the parson at nine o'clock. 
 He had in vain endeavored to cheer his old friend as they 
 sat over their steaming glasses of Jamaica. The parson 
 had never been a strong man; he was of a kindly disposi- 
 tion, and an unwearied worker when there was an oppor- 
 tunity for work, but he had always shrunk from unpleas- 
 antness, and was ready to yield rather than bring about 
 trouble. He had for a long time suffered in silence, and 
 had not the Squire himself approached the subject of his 
 son's delinquencies, he would have never opened his mouth 
 about it. Now, however, that he had done so, and the 
 Squire had taken the matter in hand, and had laid down 
 what was to be done, though he trembled at the prospect, 
 he did not even think of opposing his plan, and indeed 
 could think of no alternative for it. 
 
 " I have told John Knapp to be here," the Squire said, 
 as they reached the house. " It is just as well that he 
 should be present if your son comes back again. He is 
 a quiet, trustworthv fellow, and will keep his mouth shut 
 if I tell him." 
 
 Mr. Bastow made no reply. It was terrible to him 
 that there should be another witness to his son's conduct, 
 but he saw that the Squire was right. 
 
 An old woman opened the door. 
 
 " Are all the shutters closed and barred? " John Thorn- 
 dvke asked her. 
 
 " Yes, sir; I always sees to that as soon as it gets dark." 
 
 " Very well; you can go to bed now, Eliza," her master 
 paid. "Is John Knapp here?" 
 
 " Yes, he came an hour ago, and is sitting in the 
 kitchen." 
 
 "*1 will call him in myself when I want to speak to 
 him." ' * 
 
28 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 As soon a r . the old servant had gone upstairs the Squire 
 went into tli'; kitchen, Mr. Bastow having gone to the 
 ■cellar to fetch up a bottle of old brandy that was part of 
 a two-dozen case given to him by the old Squire fifteen 
 years before. 
 
 " Do you go round the house, John, and see that every- 
 thing is properly fastened up. I see that you have got a 
 jug of beer there. You had better get a couple of hours' 
 sleep on that settle. I shall keep watch till I am sleepy, 
 and then I will call you. Let me know if you find any of 
 the doors or windows unbarred." 
 
 Five minutes later the constable knocked at the door of 
 the parlor. 
 
 " The door opening into the stable-yard was unbarred, 
 Squire." 
 
 " I thought it likely that it would be so, Knapp. You 
 have made it fast now, I suppose? That is right. Now 
 lie down and get an hour or two of sleep; it is scarce 
 likely that he will be back until late. That was the old 
 woman, of course," he went on to his companion, when 
 the door closed behind the constable. " I thought it 
 likely enough that he might tell her to leave a way for 
 him to come in. You told me that she had been with you 
 a good many years. I dare say she has left that door 
 unbarred for him many a time. I should advise you to 
 get a man to sleep in the house regularly; there are plenty 
 of fellows who will be glad to do it for a shilling or two 
 a week, and I do not think that it is safe for you to be 
 here alone." 
 
 An hour later he said to the Eector: 
 
 " Now, Bastow, you had best go to bed. I have taken 
 the matter into my own hands, and will carry it through. 
 However, I won't have him taken away without your 
 being present, and will call you when we want you. Of 
 course, if he will give a solemn promise not to molest 
 you, and, even if he won't enlist, to leave this part of the 
 country altogether, I shall let him off." 
 
 " There is one thing, Mr. Thorndyke, that I have n/>t 
 told you," the Eector said hesitatingly. " Sometimes, 
 when he comes home late, he brings someone with him; 
 I have heard voices downstairs. I have never seen who 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 29 
 
 it was — for what could I have done if I went down? — but 
 I have heard ^orses brought round to the stable-yard, and 
 heard them ride away." 
 
 " It is just as well you told me," the Squire said dryly. 
 " If you had told me this evening at the house, I would 
 have dropped a brace of pistols into my pocket. How- 
 ever, this hunting crop is a good weapon; but I don't 
 suppose they will show fight, even if anyone is with him. 
 Besides, Knapp has a stout oaken cudgel with him — I 
 noticed it standing against his chair as I went in — and as 
 he is a strong active fellow, and we shall have the ad- 
 vantage of a surprise, I fancy we should be a match even, 
 for three or four of them." 
 
 At one o'clock the Squire roused John Knapp. 
 
 " It is one o'clock, John; now take off your boots. I 
 don't want him to know that there is anyone in the 
 house till we get hold of him. I am going to lie down 
 on the sofa in the parlor. The moment you hear foot- 
 steps you come and wake me." 
 
 The clock in the kitchen had just struck two when the 
 constable shook John Thorndyke. 
 
 " There are two horses just coming into the yard." 
 
 " All right. I opened a window in the room looking 
 down into the yard before I lay down. I will go up and 
 see what they are going to do. If they try to break in 
 anywhere down here, do you come at once quietly up 
 to me." 
 
 The Squire had taken off his boots before he lay down, 
 and, holding his heavy hunting crop in his hand, he went 
 quietly upstairs. As he went to the window he heard 
 Arthur Bastow say angrily: 
 
 " Confound the old woman! she has locked the door; 
 she has never played me that trick before. There is a 
 ladder in the stable, and I will get in at that window up 
 there and open it for you. Or you may as well come up 
 that way, too, and then you can stow the things away in 
 my room at once, and have done with it." 
 
 The Squire went hastily down. 
 
 " Come upstairs, Knapp," he whispered to the consta- 
 ble. " There are three of them, and I fancy the two 
 mounted men are highwaymen. Let them all get in, 
 
30 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 keeping yourself well back from the window. The moon 
 is round on the other side of the house, but it will be light 
 enough for us to see them as they get in. I will take the 
 last fellow, and I will warrant that he will give no 
 trouble; then I will fall upon the second, and do you 
 spring on young Bastow. The two highwaymen are sure 
 to have pistols, and he may have some also. Give him 
 a clip with that cudgel of yours first, then spring on him, 
 and hold his arms tightly by his side. If I call you give 
 him a back heel and throw him smartly, and then come 
 to my aid. I don't think I shall want it, but it is as well 
 to prepare for everything." 
 
 They went upstairs and took their places, one on each 
 side of the window, standing three or four feet back. 
 Just as they took up their positions the top of the stable 
 ladder appeared above the sill of the window. Half 
 a minute later young Bastow's head appeared, and he 
 threw up the sash still higher, and stepped into the room; 
 then he turned and helped two men in, one after the 
 other. 
 
 " Follow me," he said, " then you won't tumble over 
 the furniture." 
 
 As they turned, the heavy handle of John's Thorndyke's 
 whip fell with tremendous force on the head of the last 
 man. 
 
 " What the devil is that? " the other exclaimed, snatch- 
 ing out a pistol and turning round, as the falling body 
 struck him, but he got no further. Again the heavy 
 whip descended, this time on his right arm; it dropped 
 useless by his side, and the pistol fell from his hand. 
 Then John Thorndyke fell upon him and bore him to the 
 ground, snatched the other pistol from his belt, and held 
 it to his head. 
 
 " JSTow, my man," he said quietly, " if you don't sur- 
 render I will blow out your brains." 
 
 , " I surrender," the man moaned. " I believe that 
 you have broken my arm. Curse you, whoever you 
 are." 
 
 The struggle between John Knapp and young Bastow 
 was soon over. The young felloAV was lithe and sinewy, 
 but he was no match for the constable, who, indeed, had 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 31 
 
 almost overpowered him before he was aware what had 
 happened. 
 
 "Has he got pistols, Knapp?" the Squire asked. 
 
 " Yes, sir, a brace of them; I have got them both safely 
 in my pocket. There," he went on, as a sharp click was 
 heard, " I have got the darbys on him. Now shall I 
 help you, sir?" 
 
 " You had better run downstairs first and light a couple 
 of candles at the kitchen fire: you will find a pair stand- 
 ing on the parlor table. Don't be long about it; the first 
 fellow I hit was stunned, and he may come round any 
 moment." 
 
 " I will make sure of him before I go, Squire. I have 
 got another pair of darbys in my pocket." 
 
 As soon as he had fastened these upon the wrists of the 
 insensible man he ran downstairs, and in a minute re- 
 turned with the candles. 
 
 " I am glad that you are back," the Squire said. " I 
 was afraid that young rascal would try to escape." 
 
 " I took good care of that, Squire; you see I put one 
 of his arms round the bedpost before I slipped the darbys 
 on, and he cannot get away unless he takes the whole 
 bed with him; and as I don't think he would get it out 
 either by the window or the door, he is as safe here as 
 he would be in Newgate. What is the next thing to do, 
 Squire?" 
 
 "You had better tie this fellow's legs. I will leave 
 you a candle here, and you can keep guard over them 
 while I go and wake Mr. Bastow." 
 
 The Rector needed no waking; he was walking up and 
 down his room in great distress. He had not undressed, 
 but had thrown himself upon his bed. 
 
 "What has happened, Thorndyke?" he asked as the 
 Squire entered. " I heard two heavy falls, and I felt that 
 something terrible had taken place." 
 
 " Well, it has been a serious matter — very serious. 
 That unfortunate son of yours is not hurt, but I don't 
 know hut that the best thing that could have happened 
 would have been for him to have got a bullet through 
 his head. He brought home with him two men who are, 
 I have little doubt, highwaymen; anyhow, they each had 
 
32 COLONEL TEOBNDTZE'S SECRET. 
 
 a brace of pistols in their belt, and from what he said I 
 think they have been stopping a coach. At any rate, 
 they have something with them that they were going to 
 hide here, and I fancy it is not the first time that it has 
 been done. I don't expect yonr son had anything to do 
 with the robbery, though he was carrjdng a brace of pis- 
 tols, too; however, we have got them all three. 
 
 " Now, you see, Bastow, this takes the affair altogether 
 out of our hands. I had hoped that when we caught 
 your son in the act of breaking into your house after you 
 had ordered him from it, we should be able to frighten 
 him into enlisting, or, at any rate, into promising to dis- 
 turb you no more, for even if we had taken him before 
 the bench, nothing could have been done to him, for 
 under such circumstances his re-entering the house could 
 not be looked upon as an act of burglary. As it is, the 
 affair is altogether changed. Even if I wished to do so, 
 as a magistrate I could not release those two highway- 
 men; they must appear as prisoners in court. I shall hear 
 down in the town to-morrow morning what coach has 
 been stopped, and I have no doubt that they have on them 
 the proceeds of the robbery. Your son was consorting 
 with and aiding them, and acting as a receiver of stolen 
 goods, and as you have heard horses here before it is 
 probable that when his room is thoroughly searched we 
 shall come upon a number of articles of the same sort. 
 I am sorry that I ever meddled in the matter; but it is to* 
 late for that now. You had better come downstairs with 
 me, and we will take a turn in the garden, and try to see 
 what had best be done." 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 John Thorndyke opened the shutters of the parlor 
 window, and stepped out into the garden alone, for the 
 Rector was too unnerved and shattered to go out with 
 him, but threw himself on the sofa, completely prostrated. 
 Half an hour later the Squire re-entered the room. The 
 morning was just beginning to break. Mr. Bastow raised 
 his head and looked sadly at him. 
 
 " I can see no way out of it, old friend. Were it not 
 that he is in charge of the constable, I should have said 
 that your only course was to aid your son to escape; but 
 Knapp is a shrewd fellow as well as an honest one. You 
 cannot possibly get your son away without his assistance, 
 for he is handcuffed to the bed, and Knapp. in so serious 
 a matter as this, would not, I am sure, lend himself to an 
 escape. I have no doubt that with my influence with the 
 other magistrates, and, indeed, on the circumstances of 
 the case, they will commit him on a minor charge only, 
 as the passengers of the coach will, I hope, give evidence 
 that it was stopped by mounted men alone. I think, 
 therefore, that he would only be charged with consorting 
 with and aiding the highwaymen after the event, and of 
 aiding them to conceal stolen goods — that is, if any are 
 found in his room. 
 
 " That much stolen property has been hidden there, 
 there is little reason to doubt, but it may have been re- 
 moved shortly afterwards. It was, of course, very con- 
 venient for them to have some place where they could 
 take things at once, and then ride on quietly to London 
 the next day, for, if arrested, nothing would be found 
 upon them, and it would be impossible to connect them 
 witli the robbery. Later on they might come back again 
 ond get them from him. Of course, if nothing is found 
 in his room, we get rid of the charge of receiving alto- 
 gether, and there would be nothing but harboring, aiding, 
 
 33 
 
84 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 and abetting — a much less serious business. Look here, 
 old friend, I will strain a point. I will go out into the 
 garden again and walk about for an hour, and while I 
 am out, if you should take advantage of my absence to 
 creep up to your son's room and to search it thoroughly, 
 examining every board of the floor to see if it is loose, 
 and should you find anything concealed, to take it and 
 hide it, of course I cannot help it. The things, if there 
 are any, might secretly be packed up by you in a box 
 and sent up to Bow Street, with a line inside, saying that 
 they are proceeds of robbery, and that you hope the 
 owners will be traced and their property restored to them. 
 Not, of course, in your own hand, and without a signature. 
 There might be some little trouble in managing it, but it 
 could, no doubt, be done." 
 
 John Thorndyke went out into the garden without 
 another word. The hour was nearly up when Mr. Bastow 
 came out; he looked ten years older than he had done on 
 the previous day. He wrung his friend's hand. 
 
 " Thank God I have been up there," he said. " I do 
 not think they will find anything." 
 
 " Say nothing about it, Bastow; I don't want to know 
 whether you found anything. Now I am going to fetch 
 two or three of the men from the village, to get them to 
 aid the constable in keeping guard, and another to go up 
 to the house at once and order a groom to saddle one of 
 my horses and bring it here." 
 
 As it was now past five o'clock, and the Squire found 
 most of the men getting up, he sent one off to the house 
 with the message, and returned with two others to the 
 Rectory. He told them briefly that two highwaymen had 
 been arrested during the night, and that as young Mr. 
 Bastow was in their compan}^ at the time, it had been 
 necessary as a matter of form to arrest him also. He 
 went upstairs with them. 
 
 " I have brought up two men to sit with you, Knapp, 
 until the Reigate constables come up. You can take 
 those handcuffs off Mr. Bastow, but see that he does not 
 leave the room, and do you yourself sit in a chair against 
 the door, and place one of these men at the window. How 
 about the others?^ 
 
COLONEL TH0RND7KE S SECRET. 35 
 
 " The man you hit first, Squire, did not move until a 
 quarter of an hour ago; he has been muttering to himself 
 since, but I don't think he is sensible. The other one 
 has been quiet enough, but there is no doubt that his arm 
 is broken." 
 
 " I am going to ride down to Eeigate at once, and will 
 bring back a surgeon with me." 
 
 " You will repent this night's business, Thorndyke," 
 Arthur Bastow said threateningly. 
 
 " I fancy that you will repent it more than I shall, 
 Bastow; it is likely that you will have plenty of time to 
 do so." 
 
 It was not long before the groom with the horse ar- 
 rived. John Thorndyke rode at a gallop down to Eeigate, 
 and first called on the head constable. 
 
 " Dawney," he said, as the man came down, partially 
 dressed, at his summons, " has anything taken place dur- 
 ing the night? " 
 
 " Yes, Squire, the up coach was stopped a mile before 
 it got here, and the passengers robbed. It was due here 
 at one, and did not come in till half an hour later. 01 
 course I was sent for. The guard was shot. There werc 
 two of the fellows. He let fly with his blunderbuss,, 
 but he does not seem to have hit either of them, and one 
 rode up and shot him dead; then they robbed all the pas- 
 sengers. They got six gold watches, some rings, and, 
 adding up the amounts taken from all the passengers, 
 about a hundred and fifty pounds in money." 
 
 " Well, I fancy I have got your two highwaymen safe, 
 Dawney." 
 
 " You have, sir? " the constable said in astonishment. 
 
 " Yes. I happened to be at the Rectory. Mr. Bastow 
 had had a quarrel with his son, and had forbidden him 
 the house." 
 
 The constable shook his head. 
 
 " I am afraid he is very bad one, that young chap." 
 
 " I am afraid he is, Dawney. However, his father was 
 afraid that he might come in during the night and make 
 a scene, so I said I would stop with him, and I took our 
 village constable with me. At two o'clock this morning 
 the young fellow came with two mounted men, who, I 
 
36 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 have no doubt, were highwaymen. We had locked up 
 down below. Bastow took a ladder, and the three got in 
 at a bedroom window on the first floor. Knapp and I 
 were waiting for them there, and, taking them by sur- 
 prise, succeeded in capturing them before the highway- 
 men could use their pistols. The constable and two men 
 are looking after them, but as one has not got over a 
 knock I gave him on the head, and the other has a 
 broken arm, there is little fear of their making their 
 escape. You had better go up with two of your men, 
 and take a light cart with you with some straw in the 
 bottom, and bring them all down here. I will ride round 
 myself to Mr. Chetwynde, Sir Charles Harris, and Mr. 
 Merchison, and we will sit at twelve o'clock. You can 
 send round a constable with the usual letters to the others, 
 but those three will be quite enough for the preliminary 
 examination." 
 
 " Well, Squire, that is good news indeed. We have 
 had the coach held up so often within five miles of this 
 place during the past three months, that we have been 
 getting quite a bad name. And to think that young 
 Bastow was in it! I have heard some queer stories about 
 him, and fancied before long I should have to put my 
 hand upon his shoulder; but I didn't expect this." 
 
 " There is not a shadow of proof that he had anything 
 to do with the robbery, Dawney, but he will have diffi- 
 culty in proving that he did not afterwards abet them. 
 It is serious enough as it is, and I am terribly grieved 
 for his father's sake." 
 
 " Yes, sir; I have always heard him spoken of as a 
 kind gentleman, and one who took a lot of trouble when- 
 ever anyone was sick. Well, sir, I will be off in twenty 
 minutes. I will run round at once and send Dr. Hewett 
 up to the Eectory, and a man shall start on horseback at 
 seven o'clock T?ith the summons to the other magis- 
 trates." 
 
 John Thorndyke rode round to his three fellow-magis- 
 trates, who, living nearest to the town, were most regular 
 in their attendance at the meetings. They all listened 
 in surprise to his narrative, and expressed great pleasure 
 at hearing that the men who had been such a pest to the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'8 SECRET. 37 
 
 neighborhood, and had caused them all personally a 
 great deal of trouble, had been captured. All had heard 
 tales, too, to Arthur Bastow's disadvantage, and expressed 
 great commiseration for his father. They agreed to 
 meet at the court half an hour before business began, to 
 talk the matter over together. 
 
 " It is out of the question that we can release him on 
 bail," the gentleman who was chairman of the bench said. 
 
 " Quite so," John Thorndyke agreed. " In the first 
 place, the matter is too serious; and in the next, he cer- 
 tainly would not be able to find bail; and lastly, for his 
 father's sake, it is unadvisable that he should be let out. 
 At the same time, it appears to me that there is a broad 
 distinction between his case and the others. I fear that 
 there can be no question that he had prior acquaintance 
 with these men, and that he was cognizant of the whole 
 business; something I heard him say, and which, to my 
 regret, I shall have to repeat in court, almost proves 
 that he was so. Still, let us hope none of the stolen 
 property will be found upon him; whether they had in- 
 tended to pass it over to his care or not is immaterial. 
 If they had not done so, I doubt whether he could be 
 charged with receiving stolen goods, and we might make 
 the charge simply one of aiding these two criminals, and 
 of being so far an accessory after the crime. 
 
 " If we could soften it down still further I should, for 
 his father's sake, be glad; but as far as he himself is con- 
 cerned, I would do nothing to lighten his punishment. 
 He is about as bad a specimen of human nature as I ever 
 came across. His father is in bodily fear of him. I saw 
 the young fellow yesterday, and urged him to enlist, in 
 order to break himself loose from the bad companionship 
 he had fallen into. His reply was insolent and defiant in 
 the highest degree, and it was then that in his father's 
 name I forbade him the house, and as his father was pres- 
 ent he confirmed what I said, and told him that he would 
 not have anything more to do with him. This affair may 
 do him good, and save his neck from a noose. A few 
 years at the hulks or a passage to Botany Bay will do him 
 no harm; and, at any rate, his father will have rest and 
 peace, which he never would have if he remained here." 
 
38 COLONEL TRORNBYEE'3 SECRET 
 
 A somewhat similar conversation took place at each 
 house. John Thorndyke breakfasted at Sir Charles 
 Harris', the last of the three upon whom he called, and 
 then mounting rode back to Eeigate. 
 
 " We have found the plunder on them/' the head con- 
 stable said, coming out of the lock-up as he drew rein 
 before it, " and, fortunately for young Bastow, nothing 
 was found upon him." 
 
 " How are the two men ? " 
 
 " The fellow you hit first is conscious now, sir, but very 
 weak. The doctor says that if he hadn't had a thick hat 
 on, your blow would have killed him to a certainty. The 
 other man's arm is set and bandaged, and he is all right 
 otherwise. We shall be able to have them both in court 
 at twelve o'clock." 
 
 The Squire rode up to his house. He was met at the 
 door by his son, in a state of great excitement. 
 
 " Is it all true, father ? The news has come from the 
 village that you have killed two men, and that they and 
 Arthur Bastow have all been taken away in a cart, 
 guarded by constables." 
 
 " As usual, Mark, rumor has exaggerated matters. 
 There are no dead men; one certainly got a crack on the 
 head that rendered him insensible for some time, and 
 another's arm is broken." 
 
 "And are they highwaymen, father? They say that 
 two horses were fastened behind the cart." 
 
 " That is what we are going to try, Mark. Until their 
 guilt is proved, no one knows whether they are highway- 
 men or not." 
 
 " And why is Arthur Bastow taken, father? " 
 
 " Simply because he was in company with the others. 
 Now, you need not ask any more questions, but if you 
 like to get your pony saddled and ride down with me to 
 Eeigate at eleven o'clock, I will get you into the court- 
 house, and then you will hear all about it." 
 
 At greater length the Squire went into the matter with 
 Mrs. Cunningham, his lady housekeeper, and his ward's 
 governess. 
 
 " It is a bad business, Mr. Thorndyke," she said, " and 
 must be terrible for poor Mr. Bastow." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 39 
 
 " Yes, it is a bad business altogether, except that it 
 will rid him of this young rascal. If I were in his place I 
 should be ready to suffer a good deal to obtain such a 
 riddance/' 
 
 " I suppose that you won't sit upon the bench to- 
 day?" 
 
 " No; at least I shall take no part in the deliberations. 
 I shall, of course, give evidence. The affair is not likely 
 to last very long; my story will take the longest to tell. 
 Knapp's will be confirmatory of mine, and the Eeigate 
 constable will depose to finding the watches, rings, and 
 money upon them; then, of course, the case will be ad- 
 journed for the attendance of the coachman and some 
 of the passengers. I don't suppose they will be able to 
 swear to their identity, for no doubt they were masked. 
 But that is immaterial; the discovery of the stolen prop- 
 erty upon them will be sufficient to hang them. No doubt 
 we shall have some Bow Streets runners down from town 
 to-morrow or next day, and they will most likely be able 
 to say who the fellows are." 
 
 " Will Mr. Bastow have to give evidence against his 
 son?" 
 
 " Not before us, I think; but I imagine he will have to 
 appear at the trial." 
 
 " It will be terrible for him." 
 
 "Yes, terrible. I sincerely hope that they will not 
 summon him, but I am afraid that there is very little 
 doubt about it; they are sure to want to know about his 
 son's general conduct, though possibly the testimony on 
 that point of the constable at Eeigate will be sufficient. 
 My own hope is that he will get a long sentence; at any 
 rate, one long enough to insure his not coming back 
 during his father's lifetime. If you had seen his manner 
 when we were talking to him yesterday, you would believe 
 that he is capable of anything. I have had a good many 
 bad characters before me during the year and a half that 
 I have sat upon the bench, but I am bound to say that I 
 never saw one who was to my eyes so thoroughly evil as 
 this young fellow. I don't think," he added with a smile, 
 " that 1 should feel quite comfortable myself if he were 
 acquitted; it will be a long time before I shall forget the 
 
40 COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 
 
 expression of his face when he said to me this morning, 
 * You will repent this night's work, Thorndyke.' " 
 
 " You don't mean that you think he would do you any 
 harm, Mr. Thorndyke ? " 
 
 " Well, I should not care to meet him in a lonely place 
 if he was armed and I was not. But you need not be 
 nervous, Mrs. Cunningham, there is not the smallest 
 chance of his being out for years; and by that time his 
 blood will have had time to cool down, and he will have 
 learnt, at any rate, that crimes cannot be committed in 
 this country with impunity." 
 
 " It is all very shocking," the lady said. " What will 
 poor Mr. Bastow do? I should think that he would not 
 like to remain as clergyman here, where everyone knows 
 about it." 
 
 " That must be for him to decide," the Squire said; 
 " but if he wishes to resign I certainly shall not press 
 him to continue to hold the living. He is a very old 
 friend of mine. My father presented the living to him 
 when I was nine or ten years old, and I may say I saw 
 him daily up to the time when I went down into Sussex. 
 If he resigns I should urge him to take up his residence 
 here and to act as Mark's tutor; and he might also 
 relieve you of some of Millicent's lessons. You have 
 plenty to do in looking after the management of things 
 in general. However, that is for the future." 
 
 At eleven o'clock the Squire drove down to Eeigate, 
 taking Mark with him, as it would save all trouble about 
 putting up the horse and pony. 
 
 On arriving he handed Mark over to the head eon- 
 stable, and asked him to pass him into a seat in , the 
 courthouse, before the public were let in. Eeigate was 
 in a state of unusual excitement. That the coach should 
 have been stopped and robbed was too common an event- 
 to excite much interest, but that two highwaymen should 
 have been captured, and, as was rumored, a young gen- 
 tleman brought in on a charge of being in connection 
 with them, caused a thrill of excitement. Quite a 
 small crowd was assembled before the courthouse, and 
 the name of Squire Thorndyke passed from mouth tc 
 mouth. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 41 
 
 " There is some talk of his being mixed up with it in 
 some way or other," one said. " I saw him myself ride 
 in here, about half-past five, and I wondered he was about 
 so early. Some do say as he caught the two highway- 
 men single-handed; but that don't stand to reason. Be- 
 sides, what could he have been doing out at such an 
 hour as that? He is a good landlord, and they say that 
 Crowswood has been quite a different place since he came 
 to be master. He is a tight hand as a magistrate, and 
 cleared out half the village the first two or three months 
 he was there; but he spent a mint of money on the place, 
 and the people there say that they could not have a better 
 master. Ah, here is Squire Chetwynd. He was sure to be 
 here. There is Sir Charles' gig turning the corner. I 
 expect most of them will be on the bench; they don't get 
 such a case as this every day." 
 
 " It may be there will be nothing for us to hear when 
 the court opens," another said. " I hear both the fellows 
 have been shot or knocked about so bad that they cannot 
 be brought up. Of course the court cannot sit if they 
 aint before it." 
 
 " That is not so, Master Jones. I spoke to one of the 
 constables half an hour ago — he lives next door to me — 
 and he said that they would be well enough to appear. 
 Neither of them have been shot, though they have been 
 hurt pretty bad." 
 
 All this added to the desire of those around to get into 
 the eourt, and there was quite a rush when the doors 
 were opened two minutes before twelve, and it was at 
 once crammed, the constable having some difficulty in 
 getting the doors shut, and in persuading those who 
 could not get in that there was not standing-room for 
 another person. There was a buzz of talk in court until 
 the door opened and six magistrates came in. It was 
 observed that John Thorndyke did not seat himself with 
 the others, but moved his chair a little apart from them, 
 thus confirming the report that he was in some way con- 
 nected with the matter, and did not intend to take any 
 part in the decision. 
 
 Then another door opened, and the three prisoners 
 were brought in. The two first were pale and evidently 
 
42 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 weak; one had his head wrapped in bandages, the other 
 had the right sleeve of his coat cut off, and his arm hand- 
 aged and supported by a sling. 
 
 Both made a resolute effort to preserve a careless de- 
 meanor. The third, who was some years younger than 
 the others, looked round with a smile on his lips, bowed 
 to the magistrates with an air of insolent bravado when 
 he was placed in the dock, and then leaned easily in the 
 corner, as if indifferent to the whole business. A chair 
 was placed between his comrades for the use of the man 
 whose head was' bandaged. Many among those present 
 knew Arthur Bastow by sight, and his name passed from 
 mouth to mouth; but the usher called loudly for silence, 
 and then the magistrates' clerk rose. 
 
 " William Smith and John Brown — at least, these are 
 the names given — are charged with stopping the South 
 Coast coach last night, killing the guard, and robbing 
 the passengers; and Arthur Bastow is charged with aiding 
 and abetting the other two prisoners, and with guilty 
 knowledge of their crime." 
 
 It was noticed by those who could see the prisoners' 
 faces that, in spite of Bastow's air of indifference, there 
 was an expression of anxiety on his face as the charge was 
 read, and he undoubtedly felt relief as that against him- 
 self was mentioned. The first witness was John Knapp, 
 and the constable stepped into the witness-box. 
 
 "What do you know of this business, Knapp?" the 
 chairman asked. " Just tell it your own way." 
 
 " I am constable of Crowswood, your honor, and yester- 
 day Squire Thorndyke said to me " 
 
 " No, you must not tell it like that, Knapp; you must 
 not repeat what another person said to you. You 
 can say that from information received you did so 
 and so." 
 
 " Yes, your honor. From information received I went 
 to the Eev. Mr. Bastow's house, at a quarter to nine last 
 night. At nine o'clock Squire Thorndyke and the Parson 
 came in together. They sent the servant up to bed, and 
 then the Squire sent me round to examine the fastenings 
 of the doors. I found that one back door had been left 
 unfastened, and locked and bolted it. The Squire told me 
 
COLONEL TEORNBYKE S SECRET. 43 
 
 to lie down until one o'clock, and he would watch, and Mr. 
 Bastow went up to bed." 
 
 " Do you know of your own knowledge why these pre- 
 cautions were taken? " 
 
 " Only from what I was told, your honor. At one 
 o'clock the Squire woke me, and he lay down in the 
 parlor, telling me to call him if I heard any movement 
 outside. About two o'clock I heard two horses come 
 into the Parson's yard. I called Squire Thorndyke, who 
 went upstairs to an open window; presently someone 
 came and tried the back door. I heard voices outside, 
 but could not hear what was said. The Squire came 
 down and called me upstairs. I went up and took my 
 place at one side of the window, and the Squire took his 
 on the other. I bad this cudgel in my hand, and the 
 Squire his riding-whip. A ladder was put up against 
 the window, and then someone came up, lifted the sash 
 up high and got in. There was light enough for me to 
 see it was' young Mr. Bastow. Then the two other 
 prisoners came up. When the third had got into the 
 room Mr. Bastow said, ' Follow me, and then you won't 
 tumble over the furniture.' " 
 
 " How was it that they did not see you and Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke?" the chairman asked. 
 
 " We were standing well back, your honor. The moon 
 was on the other side of the house. There was light 
 enough for us to see them as they got in at the window, 
 but where we were standing it was quite dark, especially 
 to chaps who had just come in from the moonlight. As 
 they moved, the Squire hit the last of them a clout on 
 the head with his hunting-crop, and down he went, as if 
 shot. The man next to him turned, but I did not see 
 what took place, for, as the Squire had ordered me, I 
 made a rush at Mr. Bastow and got my arms round him 
 pretty tight, so as to prevent him using his pistols, if he 
 had any. He struggled hard, but without saying a word, 
 till T got my heel behind his and threw him on his back. 
 I came down on the top of him: then 1 got the pistole 
 out of his belt and threw them on the bed, slipped th>„ 
 handcuffs onto one wrist, lifted him up a hit, and then 
 shoved him up against the bedpost, and got the hand- 
 
44 COLONEL THORNDYKE '8 SECRET. 
 
 cuff onto his other wrist, so that he could not shift away ? 
 having the post in between his arms. 
 
 " Then I went to see if the Squire wanted any help, 
 "but he didn't. I first handcuffed the man whose head 
 he had broken, and tied the legs of the other, and then 
 kept guard over them till morning. When the constables 
 came up from town we searched the prisoners, and on 
 two of them found the watches, money, and rings. We 
 found nothing on Mr. Bastow. I went with the head con- 
 stable to Mr. Bastow's room and searched it thoroughly, 
 but found nothing whatever there." 
 
 The evidence created a great sensation in court. John 
 Thorndyke had first intended to ask Knapp not to make 
 any mention of the fact that Arthur Bastow was carry- 
 ing pistols unless the question was directly put to him. 
 But the more he had thought over the matter, the more 
 convinced was he that the heavier the sentence the better 
 it would be for the Bector; and when he had heard from 
 the latter that there was nothing left in his son's room 
 that could be brought against him, and that he could 
 not be charged with the capital crime of being a receiver, 
 he thought it best to let matters take their course. 
 
 The head constable was the next witness. He deposed 
 to the finding of the articles produced upon the two elder 
 prisoners and the unsuccessful search of the younger 
 prisoner's room. 
 
 "You did not search the house further?" the chair- 
 man inquired. 
 
 " No, sir; I wanted to get the prisoners down here as 
 fast as I could, seeing that two of them were seriously 
 hurt." 
 
 The chairman nodded. 
 
 " You will, of course, make a careful search of the 
 whole house, constable." 
 
 " Yes, sir; I left one of my men up there with in- 
 structions to allow no one to go upstairs until I re- 
 turned." 
 
 " Quite right." 
 
 John Thorndyke was the next witness, and his evidence 
 cleared up what had hitherto been a mystery to the 
 general body of the public, as to how he and the constable 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE '8 SECRET. 45 
 
 happened to be in the house on watch when the highway- 
 men arrived. The most important part of his evidence 
 was the repetition of the words young Bastow had used 
 as he mounted the ladder, as they showed that it was 
 arranged between the prisoners that the stolen goods 
 should be hidden in the house. The Squire was only 
 asked one or two questions. 
 
 " I suppose, Mr. Thorndyke, that you had no idea 
 whatever that the younger prisoner would be accompa- 
 nied by anyone else when he returned home?" 
 
 " Not the slightest," the Squire replied. " I was there 
 simply to prevent this unfortunate lad from entering the 
 house, when perhaps he might have used violence towards 
 his father. My intention was to seize him if he did so, 
 and to give him the choice of enlisting, as I had urged 
 him to do, or of being brought before this bench for 
 breaking into his father's house. I felt that anything was 
 better than his continuing in the evil courses on which, 
 he seemed bent." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Thorndyke. I must compliment you 
 in the name of my brother magistrates, and I may say 
 of the public, for the manner in which you, at consider- 
 able risk to yourself, have effected the capture of the two 
 elder prisoners." 
 
 After consulting with the others the head constable 
 was recalled. 
 
 " Do you know anything about the character of the 
 youngest prisoner? " 
 
 " Yes, sir. We have had our eye upon him for some 
 time. He was brought before your honors a week ago 
 charged with being drunk and disorderly in this town, • 
 and was fined £5. He is constantly drinking with some 
 of the worst characters in the place, and is strongly sus- 
 pected of having been concerned in the fray between the 
 poachers and Sir Charles Harris' gamekeepers. Two 
 of the latter said that they recognized him amongst the 
 poachers, but as they both declined to swear to him we 
 did not arrest him." 
 
 John Knapp was then recalled, and testified to Bastow's 
 drinking habits, and that the landlord of the alehouse at 
 Crowswood had been ordered by the Squire not to draw 
 
46 COLONEL THOBNBYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 any liquor for him in future on pain of having the renewal 
 of his license refused. 
 
 " Have you any more witnesses to call ? " the chairman 
 asked the head constable. 
 
 " Not at present, your honor. We have sent up to 
 town, and on the next occasion the coachman will he called 
 to testify to the shooting of the guard, and we hope to 
 have some of the passengers here to identify the articles 
 stolen from them." 
 
 " It will be necessary that the Eev. Mr. Bastow should 
 be here. He need not be called to give evidence unless 
 we think it to be of importance, but he had better be in 
 attendance. The prisoners are remanded until this day 
 week." 
 
 An hour later the three prisoners, handcuffed, were 
 driven under an escort of three armed constables to 
 Croydon Jail. When again brought up in court the 
 passengers on the coach identified the articles taken from 
 them; the coachman gave evidence of the stopping of the 
 coach, and of the shooting of the guard. The head con- 
 stable testified that he had searched the Eectory from top 
 to bottom, and found nothing whatever of a suspicious 
 nature. None of the passengers were able to testify to 
 the two elder prisoners as the men who had robbed them, 
 as these had been masked, but the height and dress cor- 
 responded to those of the prisoners; and the two Bow 
 Street runners then came forward, and gave evidence that 
 the two elder prisoners were wejl known to them. They 
 had long been suspected of being highwaymen, and had 
 several times been arrested when riding towards London 
 on occasions when a coach had been stopped the night 
 before, but no stolen goods had ever been found upon 
 them, and in no case had the passengers been able to 
 swear to their identity. One was known among his asso- 
 ciates as " Galloping Bill," the other as the " Downy 
 One." 
 
 At the conclusion of the evidence the three prisoners 
 were formally committed for trial, the magistrates having 
 retired in consultation for some time upon the question 
 of whether the charge of receiving stolen goods ought to 
 be made against Arthur Bastow. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE '8 SECRET. 4? 
 
 " I think, gentlemen," the chairman said, after a good 
 deal had been urged on both sides of the question, " in 
 this case we can afford to take a merciful view. In the 
 first place, no stolen goods were discovered upon him or 
 in the house. There is strong presumptive evidence of 
 his intention, but intention is not a crime, and even were 
 the evidence stronger than it is, I should be inclined to 
 take a merciful view. There can be no doubt that the 
 young fellow is thoroughly bad, and the bravado he has 
 exhibited throughout the hearing is at once unbecoming 
 and disgraceful; but we must remember that he is not 
 yet eighteen, and that, in the second place, he is the son 
 of a much respected clergyman, who is our neighbor. 
 The matter is serious enough for him as it stands, and he 
 is certain to have a very heavy sentence. 
 
 " Mr. Thorndyke, who takes no part in our delibera- 
 tions, is most anxious that the prisoner's father should be 
 spared the agony of his son being placed on trial on a 
 capital charge, though I do not think that there would be 
 the smallest chance of his being executed, for the judges 
 would be certain to take his youth into consideration. 
 Had there been prima-facie evidence of concealment, we 
 must have done our duty and sent him to trial on that 
 charge; but as there is no such evidence, I think that it 
 will be in all respects better to send him on a charge on 
 which the evidence is as clear as noonday. Moreover, I 
 think that Mr. Thorndyke's wishes should have some 
 weight with us, seeing that it is entirely due to him that 
 the important capture of these highwaymen, who have 
 long been a scourge to this neighborhood, has been 
 effected." 
 
 Mr. Bastow had not been called as a witness. John 
 Thorndyke had brought him down to Reigate in a closed 
 carriage, and he had waited in the justices' room while 
 the examination went on; but the magistrates agreed that 
 the evidence given was amply sufficient for them to com- 
 mit upon without given him the pain of appearing. John 
 Thorndyke had taken him to another room while the 
 magistrates were consulting together, and when he heard 
 the result drove him back again. 
 
 " I have fully made up my mind to resign my living, 
 
48 COLONEL THORNDYKE 'S SECRET. 
 
 Thorndyke. I could not stand up and preach to the 
 villagers of their duties when I myself have failed so 
 signally in training my own son; nor visit their houses 
 and presume to lecture them on their shortcomings when 
 my son is a convicted criminal." 
 
 " I quite see that, old friend," the Squire said. " And 
 I had no doubt but that you would decide on this course. 
 I will try not to persuade you to change your decision, 
 for I feel that your power of usefulness is at an end as 
 far as the village is concerned. May I ask what you 
 propose to do? I can hardly suppose that your savings 
 have been large." 
 
 " Two years ago I had some hundreds laid by, but they 
 have dwindled away to nothing; you can understand how. 
 For a time it was given freely, then reluctantly; then I de- 
 clared I would give no more, but he took it all the same 
 ■ — he knew well enough that I could never prosecute him 
 for forgery." 
 
 " As bad as that, eh? " Thorndyke said sternly. " Well, 
 we won't talk further of him now; what I propose is 
 that you should take up your abode at the Hall. I am 
 not satisfied with the school where Mark has been for the 
 last two years, and I have been hesitating whether to get 
 a private tutor for him or to send him to one of the pub- 
 lic schools. I know that that would be best, but I could 
 not bring myself to do so. I have some troubles of my 
 own that but two or three people know of, and now, that 
 everything is going on smoothly on the estate and in the 
 village, I often feel dull, and the boy's companionship 
 does me much good; and as he knows many lads of his 
 own age in the neighborhood now, I think that he would 
 do just as well at home. 
 
 "He will be taking to shooting and hunting before 
 long, and if he is to have a tutor, there is no one I should 
 like to have better than yourself. You know all the 
 people, and we could talk comfortably together of an 
 evening when the house is quiet. Altogether, it will be 
 an excellent arrangement for me. You would have your 
 own room, and if I have company you need not join us 
 unless you like. The house would not seem like itself 
 without you, for you have been associated with it as long 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 4» 
 
 as I can remember. As to your going out into the world 
 at the age of sixty, it would be little short of madness. 
 There — you need not give me an answer now," he went 
 on, seeing that the Eector was too broken down to speak; 
 " but I am sure that when you think it over you will come 
 to the same conclusion as I do, that it will be the best 
 plan possible for us both." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The trial of the two highwaymen and Arthur Bastow 
 came off in due course. The evidence given was similar 
 to that offered at Reigate, the only addition being that 
 Mr. Bastow was himself put into the box. The counsel 
 for the prosecution said: 
 
 " I am sorry to have to call you, Mr. Bastow. We all 
 feel most deeply for you, and I will ask you only two 
 or three questions. Was your son frequently out at 
 night?" 
 
 " He was." 
 
 " Did you often hear him return? " 
 
 " Yes; I seldom went to sleep until he came back." 
 
 " Had you any reason to suppose that others returned 
 with him? " 
 
 " I never saw any others." 
 
 " But you might have heard them without seeing them. 
 Please tell us if you ever heard voices." 
 
 " Yes, I have heard men's voices," the clergyman said 
 reluctantly, in a low voice. 
 
 " One more question, and I have done. Have you on 
 some occasions heard the sound of horses' hoofs in your 
 jard at about the time that your son came in? " 
 
 Mr. Bastow said in a low voice: 
 
 "I have." 
 
 " Had you any suspicion whatever of the character of 
 your son's visitors ? " 
 
 " None whatever. I supposed that those with him 
 were companions with whom he had been spending the 
 evening." 
 
 Mr. Bastow had to be assisted from the witness-box, 
 so overcome was he with the ordeal. He had not glanced 
 at his son while giving his evidence. The latter and his 
 two fellow-prisoners maintained throughout the trial 
 their expression of indifference. The two highwaymen 
 
 50 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 51 
 
 nodded to acquaintances they saw in the body of the 
 court, smiled at various points in the evidence, and so 
 conducted themselves that there were murmured exclama- 
 tions of approval of their gameness on the part of the lower 
 -class of the public. The jury, without a moment's hesita- 
 tion, found them all guilty of the offenses with which 
 they were charged. Bastow was first sentenced. 
 
 " Young man," the judge said, " young as you are^ 
 there can be no doubt whatever in the minds of anyone 
 who has heard the evidence that you have been an asso- 
 ciate with these men who have been found guilty of high- 
 way robbery accompanied by murder. I consider that a 
 merciful view was taken of your case by the magistrates 
 who committed you for trial, for the evidence of your 
 heartbroken father, on whose gray hairs your conduct 
 has brought trouble and disgrace, leaves no doubt that 
 you have for some time been in league with highway- 
 men, although not actually participating in their crime. 
 The words overheard by Mr. Thorndyke show that you 
 were prepared to hide their booty for them, and it is 
 well for you that you were captured before this was done, 
 and that no proceeds of other robberies were found in 
 the house. The evidence of the Bow Street officers show 
 that it had for some time been suspected that these men 
 had an accomplice somewhere in the neighborhood of 
 lieigate, for although arrested several times under cir- 
 cumstances forming a strong assumption of their guilt, 
 nothing was ever found upon them. There can now be 
 little doubt who their accomplice was. Had you been 
 an older man I should have sentenced you to transporta- 
 tion for life, but in consideration of your youth, I shall 
 take the milder course of sentencing you to fifteen years' 
 transportation." 
 
 The capital sentence was then passed in much fewer 
 words upon the two highwaymen. As they were leaving 
 the dock Bastow turned, and in a clear voice said to John 
 Thorndyke, who had been accommodated with a seat in 
 the well of the court: 
 
 " I have to thank you, Thorndyke, for this. I will 
 pay off my debt some day, you make take your oath." 
 
 * A sad case, Mr. Thorndyke — a sad case," the judge, 
 
52 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 who had greatly complimented the Squire on his conduct, 
 said to him as he was disrobing afterwards. " I don't 
 know that in all my experience I ever saw such a hardened 
 young villain. With highwaymen it is a point of honor 
 to assume a gayety of demeanor on such occasions; but 
 to see a boy of eighteen, never before convicted, exhibit- 
 ing such coolness and effrontery is quite beyond my 
 experience. I suppose his record is altogether bad?" 
 
 " Altogether," the Squire said. " His father has, dur- 
 ing the last two years, been quite broken by it; he owned 
 to me that he was in bodily fear of the lad, who had on 
 several occasions assaulted him, had robbed him of his 
 savings by means of forgery, and was so hopelessly bad 
 that he himself thought with me that the only possible 
 hope for him was to get him to enlist. I myself recom- 
 mended the East India Company's service, thinking that 
 he would have less opportunity for crime out there, and 
 that there would be a strong chance that either fever or 
 a bullet would carry him off, for I own that I have not the 
 slightest hope of reformation in such a character." 
 
 " I would have given him transportation for life if I 
 had known all this," the judge said. " However, it is 
 not likely that he will ever come back again — very few of 
 them do; the hulks are not the most healthy places in 
 the world, and they have a pretty rough way with men 
 who give them trouble, as this young fellow is Hkely 
 to do." 
 
 Mr. Bastow, as soon as he had given his evidence, had 
 "taken a hackney coach to the inn where he and the Squire 
 had put up on their arrival in town the evening before, 
 and here, on his return, John Thorndyke found him. 
 He was lying on his bed in a state of prostration. 
 
 " Cheer up, Bastow," he said, putting his hand upon 
 the Rector's shoulder. " The sentence is fifteen years, 
 which was the very amount I hoped that he would get. 
 The more one sees of him the more hopeless it is to expect 
 that any change will ever take place in him; and it is 
 infinitely better that he should be across the se^ where 
 ills conduct, when his term is over, can affect no one. 
 The disgrace, such as it is, to his friends, is no greater 
 in a long term than in a short one. Had he got off with 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 53 
 
 four or five years' imprisonment, he would have been a 
 perpetual trouble and a source of uneasiness, not to say 
 alarm; and even had he left you alone we should always 
 have been in a state of dread as to his next offense. 
 Better that he should be out in the colonies than be 
 hung at Tyburn." 
 
 " How did he take the sentence? " 
 
 " With the same bravado . he had shown all through, 
 and as he went out of the dock addressed a threat to me, 
 that, under the circumstances, I can very well afford to 
 despise. Now, if you will take my advice, you will drink 
 a couple of glasses of good port, and then go to bed. I 
 will see to your being awakened at seven o'clock, which 
 will give us time to breakfast comfortably, and to make a 
 start at nine." 
 
 " I would rather not have the wine," the Kector said 
 feebly. 
 
 " Yes, but you must take what is good for you. I have 
 ordered up a bottle of the landlord's best, and must insist 
 upon your drinking a couple of glasses with me. I want 
 it almost as much as you do, for the atmosphere of that 
 court was enough to poison a dog. I have got the taste 
 of it in my mouth still." 
 
 With much reluctance the Eector accompanied him to 
 the private sitting room that the Squire had engaged. 
 He sat down almost mechanically in an easy-chair. Tha 
 Squire poured out the wine, and handed him a glass. 
 Mr. Bastow at first put it to his lips without glancing at 
 it, but he was a connoisseur in wine, and the bouquet of 
 the port appealing to his latent senses, he took a sip, and 
 then another, appreciatingly. 
 
 " The landlord said it was first-rate, and he is not far 
 wrong," John Thorndyke remarked, as he set down his 
 own glass. 
 
 " Yes, it is a fine vintage, and in perfect condition," 
 Mr. Bastow agreed. " I have drunk nothing better for 
 years, though you have some fine bins." 
 
 " I would take a biscuit, if I were you, before I took 
 another glass," the Squire said, helping himself from a 
 plate on the table. " You have had nothing to eat to- 
 day, and you want something badly. I have a dish of 
 
54 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 .kidneys coining up in half an hour; they cook them well 
 here.'' 
 
 The Eector ate a biscuit, mechanically sipped another 
 glass of wine, and was even able to eat a kidney when 
 they were brought up. Although September was not yet 
 out, the Squire had a fire lighted in the room, and after 
 the meal was over, and two steaming tumblers of punch 
 were placed upon the table, he took a long pipe from 
 the mantel, filled and lighted it, then filled another, and 
 handed it to the Eector, at the same time holding out a 
 light to him. 
 
 " Life has its consolations," he said. " You have had 
 a lot of troubles one way and another, Bastow, but we 
 may hope that they are all over now, and that life will 
 go more smoothly and easily with you. We had better 
 leave the past alone for the present. I call this snug: a 
 good fire, a clean pipe, a comfortable chair, and a steam- 
 ing bowl at one's elbow." 
 
 The Eector smiled faintly. 
 
 " It seems unnatural " he began. 
 
 " Not at all, not at all," the Squire broke in. " You 
 have had a tremendous load on your mind, and now it is 
 lifted off; the thundercloud has burst, and though dam- 
 age has been done, one is thankful that it is no worse. 
 Now I can talk to you of a matter that has been on my 
 mind for the last three weeks. What steps do you think 
 that I ought to take to find a successor for you? It is 
 most important to have a man who will be a real help in 
 the parish, as you have been, would pull with one com- 
 fortably, and be a pleasant associate. I don't want too 
 young a fellow, and I don't want too old a one. I have 
 no more idea how to set about it than a child. Of course, 
 I could ask the Bishop to appoint, but I don't know that 
 he would appoint at all the sort of man I want. The 
 living is only worth £200 a year and the house — no very 
 great catch; but there is many a man that would be glad 
 to have it." 
 
 " I have been thinking it over, too, Thorndyke, when 
 I could bring my mind to consider anything but my own 
 .affairs. How would Greg do? He has been taking duty 
 *or me since I could not do it myself. I know that he 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'8 SECRET. 55 
 
 is a hard-working fellow, and he has a wife and a couple 
 of children; his curacy is only £70 a year, and it would 
 be a perfect godsend, for he has no interest in the Church, 
 and he might he years without preferment." 
 
 " I should think he would do very well, Bastow. Yes, 
 he reads well, which I own I care for that a good deal 
 more than for the preaching; not that I have anything 
 to say against that. He gives sound and practical ser- 
 mons, and they have the advantage of being short, which 
 is a great thing. In the first place, it is good in itself, and 
 in the second, specially important in a village congrega- 
 tion, where you know very well every woman present is 
 fidgeting to get home to see that the pot is not boiling 
 over, and the meat in the oven is not burnt. Yes, I will 
 go down to-morrow afternoon and ask him if he would 
 like the living. You were talking of selling the funiture; 
 how much do you suppose it is worth? " 
 
 " I don't suppose it will fetch above seventy or eighty 
 pounds; it is solid and good, but as I have had it in use 
 nearly forty years, it would not go for much." 
 
 " Well, let us say a hundred pounds," the Squire said. 
 " I will give you a check for it. I dare say Greg will 
 find it difficult to furnish, and he might have to borrow 
 the money, and the debt would be a millstone round his 
 neck, perhaps, for years, so I will hand it over with the 
 Rectory to him." 
 
 So they talked for an hour or two on village matters, 
 and the Squire was well pleased, when his old friend went 
 up to bed, that he had succeeded in diverting his thoughts 
 for a time from the painful subject that had engrossed 
 them for weeks. 
 
 " You have slept well," he said, when they met at 
 breakfast, " I can see by your face." 
 
 " Yes, I have not slept so soundly for months. I went 
 to sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow, and 
 did not awake until the chambermaid knocked at the 
 door." 
 
 " That second glass of punch did it, Bastow. It is a 
 fine morning; we shall have a brisk drive back. I am 
 very glad that I changed my mind and brought the gig 
 instead of the close carriage." 
 
66 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRE1. 
 
 In the afternoon the Squire drove into Eeigate. He 
 found the curate at home, and astonished and delighted 
 him by asking him if he would like the living of Crows- 
 wood. It came altogether as a surprise to him, for the 
 Sector's intentions to resign had not been made public, 
 and it was supposed in the village that he was only stay- 
 ing at the Squire's until this sad affair should be over. 
 Greg was a man of seven or eight and twenty, had gradu- 
 ated with distinction at Cambridge, but, having no in- 
 fluence, had no prospects of promotion, and the offer 
 almost bewildered him. 
 
 " I should be grateful indeed, Mr. Thorndyke," he 
 said. " It would be a boon to us. Will you excuse me 
 lor a moment?" And opening a door, he called for his 
 wife, who was trying to keep the two children quiet there, 
 having retired with them hastily when Mr. Thorndyke 
 was announced. " What do you think, Emma? " her hus- 
 band said excitedly, as she came into the room. " Mr. 
 Thorndyke has been good enough to offer me the living 
 of Crowswood." Then he recovered himself. " I beg 
 your pardon, sir, for my unmannerliness in not first intro- 
 ducing my wife to you." 
 
 " It was natural that you should think of telling her 
 the news first of all," the Squire said courteously. 
 " Madam, I am your obedient servant, and I hope that 
 soon we shall get to know each other well. I consider 
 it of great importance that the Squire of a parish and 
 the Eector should work well together, and see a great 
 deal of each other. I don't know whether you are aware, 
 Mr. Greg, that the living is worth £200 a year, besides 
 which there is a paddock of about ten acres, which is 
 sufficient for the keep of a horse and cow. The Eectory 
 is a comfortable one, and I have arranged with Mr. 
 Bastow that he shall leave his furniture for the benefit 
 of his successor. It will include linen, so that you will 
 be put to no expense whatever in moving in. I have 
 known these first expenses to seriously cripple the useful- 
 ness of a clergyman when appointed to a living." 
 
 " That is good of you indeed, Mr. Thorndyke," the 
 curate said. " We have been living in these lodgings 
 since we first came here, and it will indeed make matters 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 59 
 
 the trees were laden with apples, pears, and plums. 
 "What a change from our little rooms in Eeigate! I 
 should think that anyone ought to be happy indeed 
 here." 
 
 " They ought to be, Emma, but you see Mr. Bastow 
 had trouble enough; and it should be a lesson to us, 
 dear, to look very closely after the boys now they are 
 young, and see that they don't make bad acquaintances." 
 
 " From what we hear of the village, there is little fear 
 of that; the mischief must have begun before Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke came down, when by all accounts things had alto- 
 gether gone' to the bad here, and of course young Bastow 
 must have had an exceptionally evil disposition, Ernest." 
 
 " Yes, no doubt; but his father could not have looked 
 after him properly. I believe, from what I hear, that 
 Bastow was so dispirited at his powerlessness to put a 
 stop to the state of things here, that, except to perform 
 service, he seldom left the house, and the boy no doubt 
 grew up altogether wild. You know that I was in court 
 on the second day of the examination, and the young fel- 
 low's insolence and bearing astonished and shocked me. 
 Happily, we have the Squire here now to back us up, the 
 village has been completely cleared of all bad characters, 
 and is by all accounts quite a model place, and we must 
 do our best to keep it so." 
 
 The news of the change at the Eectory naturally occa- 
 sioned a great deal of talk. At first there was a general 
 feeling of regret that Mr. Bastow had gone, and yet it 
 was felt that he could not have been expected to stay; the 
 month's experience that they had had of the new parson 
 had cleared the way for him. He and his wife soon made 
 themselves familiar with the villagers, and being bright 
 young people, speedily made themselves liked. The Squire 
 and Mrs. Cunningham called the first afternoon after 
 their arrival. 
 
 " You must always send up if anything is wanted, Mr. 
 Greg; whenever there is any illness in the village we 
 always keep a stock of soups and jellies, and Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham is almoner in general. Is there anything that we can 
 do for you? If so, let me know without hesitation." 
 
 "Indeed, there is nothing, Mr. Thorndyke. It is mar- 
 
60 COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 
 
 velous to us coming in here and finding everything that 
 we can possibly want." 
 
 " You will want a boy for your garden; and you can- 
 not do better than take young Bill Summers. He was 
 with me for a bit last year, when the boy I have now 
 was laid up with mumps or something of that sort, and 
 he was very favorably reported on as being handy in the 
 garden, able to milk a cow, and so on. By the way, Mrs. 
 Greg, I have taken the liberty of sending down a cow in 
 milk. I expect she is in your meadow now. I have seven 
 or eight of them, and if you will send her back when her 
 milk fails I will send down another." 
 
 "You are too kind altogether, Mr. Thorndyke! " Mrs. 
 Greg exclaimed. 
 
 " Not at all. I want to see things comfortable here, 
 and you will find it difficult to get on without a cow. 
 I keep two or three for the special use of the village. 
 I make them pay for it, halfpenny a pint; it is better 
 to do that than to give it. It is invaluable for the chil- 
 dren; and I don't think in all England you see rosier and 
 healthier youngsters than those in our schools. You will 
 sometimes find milk useful for puddings and that sort 
 of thing for the sick; and they will appreciate it all the 
 more than if they had to look solely to us for their 
 supply." 
 
 " How is Mr. Bastow, sir? " 
 
 " He is better than could be expected. He himself 
 proposed this morning that my boy Mark should begin 
 his studies at once; and, indeed, now that the worst is 
 over and he has got rid of the load of care on his shoul- 
 ders, I hope that we shall have him bright and cheerful 
 again before long." 
 
 Such was indeed the case. For some little time Mr. 
 Bastow avoided the village, but John Thorndyke got him 
 to go down with him to call upon Mr. Greg, and after- 
 wards to walk through it with him. At first he went 
 timidly and shrinkingly, but the kindly greetings of the 
 women he met, and the children stopping to pull a fore- 
 lock or bob a courtesy as of old, gradually cheered him up, 
 and he soon got accustomed to the change, and would of 
 an afternoon so down to the village and chat with the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 61 
 
 women, after he had ascertained that his successor had 
 no objection whatever, and was, indeed, pleased that he 
 still took an interest in his former parishioners. 
 
 Mark was at first disappointed at the arrangement, for 
 he had looked forward to going to a public school. His 
 father, however, had no great trouble in reconciling him 
 to it. 
 
 " Of course, Mark," he said, " there are advantages in 
 a public school. I was never at one myself, but I believe 
 that, though the discipline is pretty strict, there is a great 
 deal of fun and sport, and you may make desirable ac- 
 quaintances. Upon the other hand, there are drawbacks. 
 In the first place, the majority of the boys are sons of 
 richer men than I am. I don't know that that would 
 matter much, but it would give you expensive habits, 
 and perhaps make you fonder of London life than I should 
 care about. In the next place, you see, you would be at 
 school when the shooting begins, and you are looking for- 
 ward to carrying a gun next year. The same with hunt- 
 ing. You know I promised that this year you should go 
 to the meets on your pony, and see as much of them as 
 you can, and of course when you were at school you would 
 ■only be able to indulge in these matters during your holi- 
 days: and if a hard frost set in, as is the case three 
 times out of four, just as you came home, you would be 
 out of it altogether. 
 
 " I must say I should like you to have a real love of 
 field sports and to be a good shot and a good rider. A 
 man, however wide his acres may be, is thought but little 
 of in the country if he is not a good sportsman; and, 
 moreover, there is nothing better for developing health 
 and muscles than riding, and tramping over the fields 
 with a gun on your shoulder; and, lastly, you must not 
 forget, Mark, that one of my objects in making this 
 arrangement is to keep Mr. Bastow with us. I am sure 
 that unless he thought that he was making himself useful 
 he would not be content to remain here; and at his age, 
 you know, it would be hard for him to obtain clerical 
 employment." 
 
 " All right, father. I see that the present plan is the 
 best, and that I should have -but little sport if I went 
 
62 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 away to school. Besides, I like Mr. Bastow very much, 
 and I am quite sure that I shan't get so many whackings 
 from him as I used to do from old Holbrook." 
 
 " I fancy not, Mark," his father said with a smile. " I 
 am not against wholesome discipline, but I think it can 
 be carried too far; at any rate, I hope you will be just as 
 obedient to Mr. Bastow as if he always had a cane on the 
 table beside him." 
 
 Mark, therefore, went to work in a cheerful spirit, and 
 soon found that he made more progress in a week under 
 Mr. Bastow's gentle tuition than he had done in a month 
 under the vigorous discipline of his former master. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Greg dined regularly at the Squire's once 
 a week. 
 
 " Have you had that Indian servant of yours long, Mr. 
 Thorndyke ? " Mrs. Greg asked one day. " He is a 
 strange-looking creature. Of course, in the daytime, when 
 one sees him about in ordinary clothes, one does not 
 notice him so much; but of an evening, in that Eastern 
 costume of his, he looks very strange." 
 
 " He was the servant of the Colonel, my brother," the 
 Squire replied. " He brought him over from India with 
 him. The man had been some years in his service, and 
 was very attached to him, and had saved his life more 
 than once, he told me. On one occasion he caught a 
 cobra by the neck as it was about to strike my brother's 
 hand as he sat at table; he carried it out into the com- 
 pound, as George called it, but which means, he told me, 
 garden, and there let it escape. Another time he caught 
 a Thug, which means a sort of robber who kills his victims 
 by strangling before robbing them. They are a sort of 
 sect who regard strangling as a religious action, greatly 
 favored by the bloodthirsty goddess they worship. He 
 was in the act of fastening the twisted handkerchief, 
 used for the purpose, round my brother's neck, when 
 Eamoo cut him down. The closest shave, though, was 
 when George, coming down the country, was pounced 
 upon by a tiger and carried off. Eamoo seized a couple 
 of muskets from the men, and rushed into the jungle 
 after him, and coming up with the brute killed him at 
 the first shot. George escaped with a broken arm and his 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 63 
 
 back laid open by a scratch of the tiger's claws as it first 
 seized him. 
 
 " So at George's death I took Eamoo on, and have 
 found him a most useful fellow. Of course, I was some 
 little time before I became accustomed to his noiseless 
 way of going about, and it used to make me jump when 
 I happened to look round, and saw him standing quietly 
 behind me when I thought I was quite alone. However, 
 as soon as I became accustomed to him, I got over all 
 that, and now I would not lose him for anything; he 
 seems to know instinctively what I want. He is excellent 
 as a waiter and valet; I should feel almost lost without 
 him now; and the clumping about of an English man- 
 servant would annoy me as much as his noiseless way 
 of going about did at first. He has come to speak English 
 very fairly. Of course, my brother always talked to him 
 in his own tongue; still, he had picked up enough 
 English for me to get on with; now he speaks it quite 
 fluently. When I have nothing whatever for him to do 
 he devotes himself to my little ward. She is very fond 
 of him, and it is quite pretty to see them together in the 
 garden. Altogether, I would not part with him for any- 
 thing." 
 
 For some years life passed uneventfully at Crowswood. 
 It 'was seldom indeed that the Squire's authority was 
 needed to set matters right in the village. The substitu- 
 tion of good farmers for shiftless ones in some of the 
 farms^ and the better cultivation generally, had given 
 more employment; and as John Thorndyke preferred 
 keeping two or three cottages shut up rather than have 
 them occupied by men for whom no work could be found, 
 it was rare indeed that there were any complaints of 
 scarcity of work, except, indeed, on the part of the Rector, 
 who declared that, what with the healthiness of the vil- 
 lage and the absence of want, his occupation, save for the 
 Sunday duty, was a sinecure. Mr. Bastow was more happy 
 and much brighter than he had been for many years. The 
 occupation of teaching suited him, and he was able to 
 make the work pleasant to his pupil as well as to himself; 
 indeed, it occupied but a small portion of the day, the 
 
64 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 amount of learning considered necessary at the time not 
 being extensive. A knowledge of Greek was thought 
 quite superfluous for a country gentleman. Science was 
 in its infancy, mathematics a subject only to be taken up 
 by those who wanted to obtain a college fellowship. 
 Latin, however, was considered an essential, and a knack 
 of apt quotation from the Latin poets an accomplishment 
 that ever}- man who was a member of society or aspired 
 to enter Parliament was expected to possess. Thus Mark 
 Thorndyke's lessons lasted but two or three hours a day, 
 and the school term was a movable period, according to 
 the season of the year and the engagements of the Squire 
 and Mark. In winter the evening was the time, so that 
 the boy shot with his father, or rode to the hounds, or, 
 as he got older, joined in shooting-parties at the houses 
 of neighbors. 
 
 In summer the work was done in the morning, but was 
 not unfrequently broken. Mark went off at a very early 
 hour to drive perhaps some twenty miles with his greal; 
 chum, Dick Chetwynd, for a long day's fishing, or to sett 
 a main of cocks fought or a fight between the champions; 
 of two neighboring villages, or perhaps some more im- 
 portant battle. 
 
 AVhen Millicent Conyers was ten years old she came 
 regularly into the study, sitting curled up in a deep chair, 
 getting up her lessons while Mark did his, and then 
 changing seats with him while he learned his Horace or 
 Ovid by heart. At this time she looked up greatly to 
 him, and was his companion whenever he would allow her 
 to be, fetched and carried for him, and stood almost on 
 a level with his dogs in his estimation. 
 
 Five years later, when Mark was eighteen, these rela- 
 tions changed somewhat. He now liked to have her with 
 him, not only when about the house and garden, but when 
 he took short rides she cantered along on her pony by his 
 side. She was a bright-faced girl, full of life and fun, 
 and rejoicing in a far greater amount of freedom than 
 most girls of her age and time. 
 
 " It is really time that she should learn to comport 
 herself more staidly, instead of running about like a wild 
 thing," Mrs. Cunningham said, one day, as she and the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 65 
 
 Squire stood after breakfast looking out of the open win- 
 dow at Mark and Millicent. 
 
 " Time enough, my dear lady, time enough. Let her 
 enjoy life while she can. I am not in favor of making a 
 young kitten behave like an old tabby; every creature 
 in nature is joyful and frolicsome while it is young. She 
 is as tall and as straight as any of her friends of the 
 same age, and looks more healthy; she will tame down 
 in time, and I dare say walk and look as prim and demure 
 as they do. I was watching them the other day when 
 there was a party of them up here, and I thought the 
 difference was all to her advantage. She looked a natural, 
 healthy girl; they looked like a set of overdressed dolls, 
 afraid to move or to talk loud, or to stretch their mouths 
 when they smile; very lady-like and nice, no doubt, but 
 you will see Millicent will throw them into the shade 
 when she is once past the tomboy age. Leave her alone, 
 Mrs. Cunningham; a girl is not like a fruit tree, that 
 wants pruning and training from its first year; it will be 
 quite time to get her into shape when she has done 
 growing." 
 
 John Thorndyke had occasionally made inquiries of 
 Mr. Bastow as to the whereabouts of his son. At the time 
 the sentence was passed transportation to the American 
 colonies was being discontinued, and until other arrange- 
 ments could be made hulks were established as places of 
 confinement and punishment; but a few months later 
 Arthur Bastow was one of the first batch of convicts sent 
 out to the penal settlement formed on the east coast of 
 Australia. This was intended to be fixed at Botany Bay, 
 but it having been found that this bay was open and un- 
 sheltered, it was established at Sydney, although for 
 many years the settlement retained in England the name 
 of the original site. As the condition of the prisoners 
 kept in the hulks was deplorable, the Squire had, through 
 the influence of Sir Charles Harris, obtained the inclusion 
 of Bastow's name among the first batch of those who were 
 to sail for Australia. 
 
 Mr. Bastow obtained permission to see his son before 
 sailing, but returned home much depressed, for he had 
 been assailed with such revolting and blasphemous Ian- 
 
66 COLONEL THORNDYKE'B SECRET. 
 
 guage by him that he had been forced to retire in horror 
 at the end of a few minutes. 
 
 " We have done well in getting him sent off/' the 
 Squire said, when he heard the result of the interview. 
 " In the first place, the demoralizing effect of these hulks 
 is quite evident, and it may be hoped that in a new 
 country, where there can be no occasion for the convicts 
 to be pent up together, things may be better; for although 
 escapes from the hulks are not frequent, they occasionally 
 take place, and had he gained his liberty we should have 
 had an anxious time of it until he was re-arrested, whereas 
 out there there is nowhere to go to, no possibility of 
 committing a crime. It is not there as it was in the 
 American colony. Settlements may grow up in time, but 
 at present there are no white men whatever settled in the 
 district; and the natives are, they say, hostile, and were 
 a convict to escape he would almost certainly be killed, 
 and possibly eaten. No doubt by the time your son has 
 served his sentence colonies will be established out there, 
 and he may then be disposed to settle there, either on a 
 piece of land of which he could no doubt take up or in the 
 service of one of the colonists." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 The scene in the convict yard at Sydney, fire \ears 
 after its foundation as a penal settlement, was not a pleas- 
 ant one to the lover of humanity. Warders armed to the 
 teeth were arranging gangs that were to go out to labor 
 on the roads. Many of the convicts had leg-irons, but 
 so fastened as to be but slight hindrance to their working 
 powers, but the majority were unironed. These were the 
 better-behaved convicts; not that this would be judged 
 from their faces, for the brutalizing nature of the system 
 and the close association of criminals had placed its mark 
 on all, and it would have been difficult for the most dis- 
 criminating to have made any choice between the most 
 hardened criminals and those who had been sent out 
 for what would now be considered comparatively trivial 
 offenses. 
 
 The voyage on board ship had done much to efface 
 distinctions, the convict life had done more, and the chief 
 difference between the chained and unchained prisoners 
 was that the latter were men of more timid disposition 
 than many of their companions, and therefore less dis- 
 posed to give trouble that would entail heavy punishment. 
 But it was only the comparatively well-conducted men 
 who were placed upon road work; the rest were retained 
 for work inside the jail, or were caged in solitary con- 
 finement. Each morning a number, varying from half 
 a dozen to a dozen, were fastened up and flogged, in some 
 cases with merciless severity, but it was seldom that a cry 
 was uttered by these, the most brutal ruffians of the con- 
 vict herd. 
 
 This spectacle was just over: it was conducted in pub- 
 lic for the edification of the rest, but, judging from the 
 low laughs and brutal jests, uttered below the breath, 
 it signally failed in producing the desired impression. 
 Two of those who had suffered the severest punishment 
 were now putting on their coarse woolen garments over 
 
 67 
 
fe» COLONEL TSORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 their bloodstained shoulders; both were comparatively 
 young men. 
 
 " I shall not stand this much longer," one muttered. 
 " I will brain a warder, and get hung for it. One can 
 but die once, while one can get flogged once a week." 
 
 " So would I," the other said bitterly; " but I have 
 some scores to settle in England, and I am not going to 
 put my head in a noose until I have wiped them out. 
 The sooner we make arrangements to get back there the 
 better." 
 
 " Yes, we have talked of this oefore," the other said, 
 " and I quite agreed with you that if we all had the 
 pluck of men we ought to be able to overpower the 
 warders, in spite of their firearms. Of course some of us 
 would get killed, but no one would mind that if there 
 was but the remotest chance of getting away. The 
 question is what we should do with ourselves when we 
 were once outside the prison. Of course I know that 
 there are two or three hundred settlers, but there would 
 not be much to be got out of them, and life among those 
 black fellows, even if they were civil to us, which I don't 
 suppose they would be, would not be worth having." 
 
 - " We might not have to stay there long; ships with 
 stores or settlers arrive occasionally, and if a lot of us 
 got away we might seize one by force, turn pirates for a 
 bit, and when we are tired of that sail to some South 
 American port, sell our capture, and make our way home 
 to England. If we were not strong enough to take her, 
 we could hide up on board her; we should be sure to find 
 some fellow who for a pound or two would be willing to 
 help us. The thing can be done if we make up our minds 
 "lo do it, and I for one have made up my mind to try. I 
 haven't chalked out a plan yet, but I am convinced that 
 it is to be done." 
 
 " I am with you, whatever it is," the other said; " and 
 I think there are twenty or thirty we could rely on. I 
 don't say there are more than that, because there are a 
 lot of white-livered cusses among them who would inform 
 against us at once, so as to get their own freedom as a re- 
 ward for doing so. "Well, we will both think it over, mate, 
 and the sooner the better." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 69 
 
 • 
 
 The two men who were thus talking together were both 
 by birth above the common herd of convicts, and had 
 gained a considerable ascendency over the others because 
 of their reckless indifference to punishment and their 
 defiance of authority. Few of the men knew each other's 
 real names; by the officials they were simply known by 
 numbers, while among themselves each had a slang name 
 generally gained on board ship. Separation there had, 
 of course, been impossible, and when fastened down be- 
 low each had told his story with such embellishments 
 as he chose to give it, and being but little interfered with 
 by their guards, save to insure the impossibility of a 
 mutiny, there had been fights of a desperate kind. Four 
 or five dead bodies had been found and thrown overboard, 
 but as none would testify as to who had been the assail- 
 ants none were punished for it; and so the strongest 
 and most desperate had enforced their authority over 
 the others, as wild beasts might do, and by the time 
 they had reached their destination all were steeped much 
 deeper in wickedness and brutalism than when they set 
 sail. 
 
 The two men who were speaking together had speedily 
 become chums, and, though much younger than the ma- 
 jority of the prisoners, had by their recklessness and 
 ferocity established an ascendency among the others. 
 This ascendency had been maintained after their arrival 
 by their constant acts of insubordination, and by their 
 apparent indifference to the punishment awarded them. 
 At night the convicts were lodged in wooden buildings, 
 where, so long as they were not riotous, they were allowed 
 to talk and converse freely, as indeed was the case when 
 their work for the day was done. 
 
 As to any attempt at escape, the authorities had but 
 small anxiety, for until the arrival of the first settlers, 
 three years after that of the convicts, there was nowhere 
 a fugitive could go to, no food to be obtained, no shelter 
 save among the blacks, who were always ready for a re- 
 ward of tobacco and spirits to hand them over at once 
 to the authorities. The case had but slightly changed 
 since the settlement began to grow. It was true that by 
 stealing sheep or driving off a few head of cattle a fugitive 
 
70 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 might maintain himself for a time, but even if not shot 
 down by the settlers or patrols, he would be sure before 
 long to be brought in by the blacks. The experiment 
 had already been tried of farming our better-conducted 
 convicts to the settlers, and indeed it was the prospect of 
 obtaining such cheap labor that had been the main induce- 
 ment to many of the colonists to establish themselves so 
 far from home, instead of going to America. 
 
 As a whole the system worked satisfactorily; the men 
 were as much prisoners as were the inmates of the jail, 
 for they knew well enough that were they to leave the 
 farmers and take to the bush they would remain free but 
 a short time, being either killed or handed over by the 
 blacks, and in the latter case they would be severely 
 punished and set to prison work in irons, with labor very 
 much more severe than that they were called upon to do 
 on the farms. 
 
 Some little time after the conversation between the 
 two convicts the prison authorities were congratulating 
 themselves upon the fact that a distinct change had 
 taken or was taking place in the demeanor of many of 
 the men who had hitherto been the most troublesome, 
 and they put it down to the unusually severe floggings 
 that had been inflicted on the two most refractory 
 prisoners in the establishment. When in the prison yard 
 or at work they were more silent than before, and did 
 their tasks doggedly and sullenly; there was no open 
 defiance to the authorities, and, above all, a marked 
 cessation of drunkenness from the spirits smuggled into 
 the place. 
 
 Only the two originators were aware of the extent of 
 the plot, for they had agreed that only by keeping every 
 man in ignorance as to who had joined it could they 
 hope to escape treachery. In the first place, they had 
 taken into their confidence a dozen men on whom they 
 could absolutely rely. Beyond this they had approached 
 the others singly, beginning by hinting that there was a 
 plot for escape, and that a good many were concerned, 
 and telling them that these had bound themselves to- 
 gether by a solemn oath to kill any traitor, even if hanged 
 for it. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SEOBET. 71 
 
 " No one is to know who is in it and who is not," the 
 leaders said to each new recruit. " Every man will be 
 closely watched by the rest, and if he has any communi- 
 cation privately with a warder or any other official he will 
 be found strangled the next morning; no one will know 
 who did it. Even if he succeeded in eluding the vigilance 
 of his comrades at the time, it would soon be known; 
 for if indulgence of any kind was shown towards one man, 
 or he was relieved from his ordinary work, or even freed 
 altogether and suddenly, he would be a dead man in 
 twenty-four hours, for we have friends outside among the 
 ticket-of-leave men who have bound themselves to kill at 
 once any man set free." 
 
 To the question, " What do you intend to do when we 
 get off? " the answer was, " We shall go straight to the 
 bush, so as to avoid a fight with the soldiers, in the first 
 place; then we shall join that night, and drive off all the 
 cattle and sheep from the settlements, take possession of 
 every firearm found in the houses, then move off a couple 
 of hundred miles or so into the bush, and establish a set- 
 tlement of our own. 
 
 " Of course, we shall take horses and clothes and any 
 spirits and food we may find. If the soldiers pursue us, 
 we will fight them; but as there are only three or four 
 companies of them, and we shall be eight hundred strong, 
 we shall very soon show them that they had better leave 
 us alone. 
 
 " Oh, yes, no doubt they will send more soldiers out 
 from England, but it will be over a year before they can 
 get here; and we propose after we have done with the 
 fellows here to break up into parties of twenty and thirty, 
 dividing the sheep and cattle among us, and each party 
 going where it will. The place is of tremendous size, as 
 big as a dozen Englands, they say, and each party will fix 
 on a place it fancies, where there is good water and a 
 river with fish and so on, and we may live all our lives 
 comfortably, with just enough work to raise potatoes and 
 corn, and to watch our stock increasing. Anyhow, we might 
 calculate on having some years of peace and freedom, 
 and even if in the end they searched us all out, which 
 would be very unlikely, they could but bring us back, 
 
12 COLONEL THOBNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 hang a few, and set the rest to work again; but we think 
 that they would most likely leave us alone altogether, quite 
 satisfied with having got rid of us. 
 
 " Those who liked it could, no doubt, take wives among 
 the blacks. The convict women who are out on service 
 with the settlers would, you may be sure, join us at once, 
 and an enterprising chap who preferred a white woman 
 to a black could always make his way down here and per- 
 suade one to go off with him to his farm. That is the 
 general plan; if many get tired of the life they have only 
 to come down to Sydney, hide up near the place on some 
 dark night, and go down to the port, seize a ship, and 
 make off in her, compelling the officers and sailors to take 
 them and land them at any port they fancy, either in 
 Chili, Peru, or Mexico, or, if they like, sail west and 
 make for Eio or Buenos Ayres or one of the West Indian 
 islands. As to when it is going to be done, or how it is 
 going to be done, no one will be told till it is ready to 
 be carried out. We have not settled that ourselves, and 
 thus one who was fool enough to risk certain death could 
 tell the Governor no more than that there was a plot on 
 hand, and that the man who had sworn him in was con- 
 cerned in it." 
 
 So one by one every man in the prison was sworn by a 
 terrible oath to secrecy, to watch his companions, and to 
 report anything that looked suspicious. Many joined 
 willingly, the prospect of relief, even should it only be 
 temporary, being too fascinating to be resisted. Some 
 joined against their will, fearing that a refusal to do so 
 would be punished by death; and the fact that two or 
 three men were found strangled in bed had a very great 
 effect in inducing others to join in the plot. These 
 deaths caused some uneasiness to the authorities. Their 
 utmost endeavors failed to discover who were the perpe- 
 trators of these murders; and even when everyone in the 
 same hut was flogged to obtain information, not one 
 opened his lips. 
 
 One night the word was passed round that the time 
 had come. One only in each hut was familiar with the 
 details, and he gave instructions to each man individually 
 as to what he was to do. The date had been determined 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 73 
 
 by the fact that the time which they had been sen- 
 tenced to wear irons had terminated the day before, and 
 their unusually subdued and quiet demeanor having car- 
 ried them through the interval without, as usual, fresh 
 punishments being awarded them before the termination 
 of the former one. 
 
 In the morning the whole of the convicts were drawn 
 up to witness the flogging of the inmates of one of the 
 huts, where a man had been found strangled the morning 
 before. The first prisoner was taken to the triangle, 
 .'tripped to the waist, and tied up. There was a dead 
 silence in the ranks of the convicts, but as the first blow 
 fell upon his shoulders there was a loud yell, and simul- 
 taneously the whole ranks broke up, and a number of 
 men sprang upon each of the warders, wrested their 
 muskets from them, and threw them to the ground. 
 Then there was a rush towards the Governor and officers, 
 who were assembled in front of the stone house that 
 faced the open end of the square. Firing their pistols, 
 these at once took refuge in the house, three or four 
 falling under the scattered fire that was opened as soon 
 as the muskets of the warders fell into the hands of the 
 convicts. 
 
 Directly the doors were closed the officers appeared at 
 the windows, and opened a rifle fire upon the convicts, 
 as did the guards near the gate. As comparatively few 
 of the convicts had muskets, they began to waver at once. 
 But, headed by the two ringleaders, the armed party 
 rushed at the guard, shot them down, and threw open 
 the gate. Then an unexpected thing occurred. The 
 soldiers from the barracks happened to be marching down 
 to do target practice on the shore, and were passing the 
 convict prison when the firing broke out. They were at 
 once halted, and ordered to load, and as the convicts, 
 ■with exultant shouts, poured through the gate they saw a 
 long line of soldiers, with leveled muskets, facing them. 
 
 " At them! " one of the leaders shouted. " It is too late 
 to draw back now. We have got to break through them." 
 
 Many of the convicts ran back into the yard; but those 
 armed with muskets, the more desperate of the party, 
 followed their leaders. A moment later a heavy volley 
 
Y4 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 rang out, and numbers of the convicts fell. Their two 
 leaders, however, and some twenty of their followers, 
 keeping in a close body, rushed at the line of soldiers with 
 clubbed muskets, and with the suddenness and fury of 
 the rush burst their way through the line, and then scat- 
 tering, tied across the country, pursued by a dropping 
 fire of musketry. The officers in command, seeing that 
 but a fraction had escaped, ordered one company to pur- 
 sue, and marched the rest into the prison yard. It was 
 already deserted; the convicts had scattered to their huts, 
 those who had arms throwing them away. Dotted here 
 and there over the square were the bodies of eight or 
 ten convicts and as many warders, whose skulls had been 
 smashed in by their infuriated assailants as soon as they 
 had obtained possession of their muskets. 
 
 Close to the gate lay the six soldiers who had furnished 
 the guard; these were all dead or mortally wounded. 
 The Governor and the officials issued from the house as 
 soon as the soldiers entered the yard. The first step to 
 do was to turn all the convicts out of the huts and to 
 iron them. No resistance was attempted, the sight of 
 the soldiers completely cowing the mutineers. . When 
 the bodies of the convicts that had fallen were counted 
 and the roll of the prisoners called over, it was found 
 that eighteen were missing, and of these six were during 
 the course of the next hour or two brought in by the 
 soldiers who had gone in pursuit of them. The rest had 
 escaped. The convicts were all questioned separately, and 
 the tales they told agreed so closely that the Governor 
 could not doubt that they were speaking the truth. 
 
 All had been sworn in by one of two men, and knew 
 nothing whatever of what was intended to be done that 
 day, until after they were locked up on the evening 
 previous. Each of those in the huts had received his in- 
 structions the night before from the one man. There were 
 eighteen huts, each containing fifteen convicts. Of the 
 men who had given instructions six had fallen outside the 
 gate, together with sixteen others; five had been overtaken 
 and brought in; altogether, twelve were still at large. 
 Among these were the two leaders. 
 
 The next day six of the prisoners were tried and exe- 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. IS 
 
 cuted. The rest were punished only by a reduction in 
 their rations; sentence of death was at the same time 
 passed upon the twelve still at large, so as to save the 
 trouble of a succession of trials as they were caught and 
 brought in. 
 
 The two leaders had kept together after they had 
 broken through the line of soldiers. 
 
 " Things have gone off well," one said as they ran 
 through. " Those soldiers nearly spoilt it all." 
 
 " Yes, that was unlucky," the other agreed; " but so 
 far as we are concerned, which is all we care about, I 
 think things have turned out for the best." 
 
 Nothing more was said until they had far outstripped 
 their pursuers, hampered as these were by their uniforms 
 and belts. 
 
 " You mean that it is not such a bad thing that they 
 have not all got away? " 
 
 " Yes, that is what I mean. It is all very well to tell 
 them about driving off the sheep and cattle and horses, 
 and going to start a colony on our own account, but the 
 soldiers would have been up to us before we had gone a 
 day's journey. Most of the fellows would have bolted 
 directly they saw them. As it is, I fancy only about a 
 dozen have got away, perhaps not as many as that, and 
 they are all men that one can rely upon. One can feed 
 a dozen without difficulty — a sheep a day would do it — 
 and by giving a turn to each of the settlers the animals 
 won't be missed. Besides, we shall want money if we 
 are ever to get out of this cursed country. It would not 
 be difficult to get enough for you and me, but when it 
 comes to a large number the sack of the whole settlement 
 would not go very far. 
 
 " My own idea is that we had best join the others to- 
 night, kill a few sheep, and go two or three days' march 
 into the bush, until the heat of the pursuit is over. We 
 arc all armed, the blacks would not venture to attack us, 
 and the soldiers would not be likely to pursue us very 
 far. In a week or so, when we can assume that matters 
 have cooled down a bit, we can come down again. We 
 know all the shepherds, and even if they were not disposed 
 to help us they would not dare to betray us, or report a 
 
76 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 sheep or two being missing. Of course, we shall have to 
 be very careful to shift our quarters frequently. Those 
 black trackers are sure to be sent out pretty often." 
 
 " As long as we are hanging about the settlements 
 there won't be much fear of our being bothered by the 
 blacks. Of course, we shall have to decide later on 
 whether it will be best for us to try and seize a ship, all 
 of us acting together, or for us to get quietly on board 
 one and keep under hatches until she is well away. That 
 is the plan I fancy most." 
 
 " So do I. In the first place the chances are that in 
 the next two or three months at least half the fellows 
 will be picked up. To begin with, several of them are 
 sure to get hold of liquor and make attacks upon the 
 settlers, in which case some of them, anyhow, are sure to 
 get killed. In the next place, most of them were brought 
 up as thieves in the slums of London, and will have no 
 more idea of roughing it in a country like this than 
 of behaving themselves if they were transported to a 
 London drawing room. Therefore, I am pretty sure that 
 at the end of three months we shall not be able to reckon 
 on half of them. Well, six men are not enough to cap- 
 ture a ship, or, if they do capture it, to keep the crew 
 under. One must sleep sometimes, and with only three 
 or four men on deck we could not hope to keep a whole 
 ship's crew at bay." 
 
 " Then there is another reason. You and I, when we 
 have got a decent rig-out, could pass anywhere without 
 exciting observation; while if we had half a dozen of the 
 others, whatever their good qualities, they would be 
 noticed at once by their villainous faces, and if questions 
 were to be asked we should be likely to find ourselves in 
 limbo again in a very short time. So I am all for work- 
 ing on our own account, even if the whole of the others 
 were ready to back us; but, of course, we must keep on 
 good terms with them all, and breathe no word that we 
 think that each man had better shift for himself. Some 
 of those fellows, if they thought we had any idea of leav- 
 ing them, would go straight into Sydney and denounce us, 
 although they would know that they themselves would be 
 likely to swing at the same time." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 11 
 
 As none of the convicts were acquainted with the bush, 
 they had been obliged to select as their rendezvous a hut 
 two miles out of the town, where the convict gangs that 
 worked on the road were in the habit of leaving their 
 tools. On the way there the two men killed a couple of 
 sheep from a flock whose position they had noticed before 
 it became dark. These they skinned, cut off the heads, 
 and left them behind, carrying the sheep on their shoul- 
 ders to the meeting. 
 
 "Is that you, Captain Wild?" a voice said as they 
 approached. 
 
 " Yes; Gentleman Dick is with me." 
 
 " That is a good job. We had begun to think that the 
 soldiers had caught you." 
 
 " They would not have caught us alive, you may take 
 your oath. How many are there of us here? " 
 
 " Ten of us, Captain. I think that that is all there 
 are." 
 
 " That is enough for our purpose. Has anyone got 
 anything to eat ? " , 
 
 There was a deep growl in the negative. 
 
 " Well, we have brought a couple of sheep with us, 
 and as we have carried them something like a mile, you 
 had better handle them by turns. We will strike off into 
 the bush and put another three or four miles between us 
 and the jail, and then light a fire and have a meal." 
 
 Two of the men came forward and took the sheep. 
 Then they turned off from the road, and taking their 
 direction from a star, followed it for an hour. 
 
 " I think we have got far enough now," the man called 
 Captain Wild said. " You had- better cut down the 
 bushes, and we will make a fire." 
 
 "But how are we to light it?" one of them exclaimed 
 in a tone of consternation. " I don't suppose we have got 
 flint and steel or tinder-box among us." 
 
 " Oh, we can manage that! " the Captain said. " Get a 
 heap of dried leaves here first, then some wood, and we 
 will soon have a blaze." 
 
 His orders were obeyed. Some of the men had carried 
 off the warders' swords as well as their muskets, and now 
 used them for chopping wood. As soon as a small pile 
 
18 COLONEL TIIORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 of dried leaves was gathered the Captain broke a cart- 
 ridge and sprinkled half its contents among them, and 
 then dropped the remainder into his musket. He flashed 
 this off among the leaves, and a bright flame at once shot 
 up, and in five minutes a fire was burning. One of the 
 sheep was soon cut up, the meat hacked in slices from the 
 bones, a ramrod was thrust through the pieces, and, sup- 
 ported by four sticks, was laid across the fire. Three 
 other similarly laden spits were soon placed beside it, 
 and in a short time the meat was ready for eating. 
 Until a hearty meal had been made there was but little 
 talking. 
 
 " That is first-rate," one of the men said, as he wiped 
 his mouth with the back of his hand. " Now one only 
 wants a pipe and bacca and a glass of grog, to feel com- 
 fortable." 
 
 " Well, Captain, are you satisfied with the day's work? " 
 
 " It would have been a grand day had it not been for 
 the soldiers passing just at the time. As it is, Gentleman 
 Dick and I have been agreeing that as far as we are all 
 concerned it has not turned out so badly. There would 
 have been a lot of difficulty in finding food if we had 
 all got away, and some of those mealy-mouthed fellows 
 would have been sure to go back and peach on us at the 
 first opportunity. A dozen is better than a hundred for 
 the sort of life we are likely to lead for some time. We 
 are strong enough to beat off any attack from the black 
 fellows, and also to break into any of these settlers' 
 houses. 
 
 " We can, when we have a mind to, take a stray sheep 
 now and then, or even a bullock would scarcely be missed, 
 especially if our pals in the settlement will lend us a 
 helping hand, which you may be sure they will do; in fact, 
 they would know better than to refuse. Then a large 
 party could be traced by those black trackers at a run, 
 while a small one would not; especially if, as we certainly 
 will do, we break up into twos and threes for a time. 
 First of all, though, we must go well into the bush; at 
 daybreak to-morrow morning we will drive off twenty 
 sheep, and go right away a hundred miles, and wait there 
 till matters have settled down. They will never take the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 19 
 
 troops out that distance after us. Then we can come 
 back again, and hang about the settlement and take what 
 we want. The wild blacks don't come near there, and we 
 shall be safer in pairs than we should be if we kept to- 
 gether; and of course we could meet once a week or so 
 to talk over our plans. We must borrow some whisky, 
 flour, tea, tobacco, and a few other items from the set- 
 tlers, but we had better do without them for this trip. I 
 don't want to turn the settlers against us, for they have 
 all got horses, and might combine with the troops to give 
 chase, so it would be best to leave them alone, at any rate 
 till we get back again. Another reason for treating 
 them gently is that even if they did not join the troops 
 they might get into a funk, and drive their sheep and 
 horses down into Sydney, and then we should mighty 
 soon get short of food. It will be quite time enough to 
 draw upon them heavily when we make up our minds 
 to get hold of a ship and sail away. Money would be of 
 no use to us here, but we shall want it when we get to a 
 port, wherever that port may be." 
 
 " That sounds right enough, Captain," one of the con- 
 victs said, " and just at present nothing would suit me 
 better than to get so far away from this place that I can 
 ^ay on my back and take it easy for a spell." 
 
 There was a general chorus of assent, and there being 
 neither tobacco nor spirits, the party very soon stretched 
 themselves off to sleep round the fire. In the morning 
 they were up before daylight, and half an hour later ar- 
 rived at one of the farms farthest from Sydney. Here 
 they found a flock of a hundred sheep. The shepherd 
 came to the door of his hut on hearing a noise. 
 
 " You had best lie down and go to sleep for the next 
 hour," the leader of the convicts said sharply. " We 
 don't want to do an old pal any harm, and when you 
 wake up in the morning and find the flock some twenty 
 short, of course you won't have any idea what has become 
 of them." 
 
 The man nodded and went back into the hut and shut 
 the door, and the convicts started for the interior, driving 
 twenty sheep before them. During the first day's journey 
 they went fast, keeping the sheep at a trot before them, 
 
80 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 and continuing their journey through the heat of the 
 day. 
 
 " I tell you what, Captain," one of the men said when 
 they halted at sunset, " if we don't get to a water-hole 
 we shall have to give up this idea of going and camping 
 in the bush. My mouth has been like an oven all day, 
 and it is no use getting away from jail to die of thirst 
 out here." 
 
 There had been similar remarks during the day, and 
 the two leaders agreed together that it would be madness 
 to push further, and that, whatever the risk, they would 
 have to return to the settlements unless they could strike 
 water. As they were sitting moodily round the fire they 
 were startled by a dozen natives coming forward into the 
 circle of light. These held out their hands to say that 
 their intentions were peaceful. 
 
 "Don't touch your muskets! " Captain Wild exclaimed 
 sharply, as some of the men were on the point of jump- 
 ing to their feet. " The men are friendly, and we may be 
 able to get them to guide us to water." 
 
 The natives, as they came up, grinned and rubbed their 
 stomachs, to show that they were hungry. 
 
 " I understand," the Captain said; " you want a sheep, 
 we want water; " and he held up his hand to his mouth 
 and lifted his elbow as if in the act of drinking. 
 
 In two or three minutes the natives understood what 
 he wanted, and beckoned to the men to follow. The tired 
 sheep were got onto their legs again, and half a mile away 
 the party arrived at a pool in what in wet weather was 
 the bed of a river. A sheep was at once handed over to 
 the natives, and when the men had satisfied their thirst 
 another sheep was killed for their own use. After a great 
 deal of trouble the natives were made to understand that 
 the white men wanted one of their party to go with them 
 as a guide, and to take them always to water-holes, and a 
 boy of fifteen was handed over to them in exchange for 
 two more sheep, and at daybreak the next morning they 
 started again for the interior, feeling much exhilarated 
 by the piece of luck that had befallen them. They 
 traveled for four days more, and then, considering that 
 the soldiers had ceased their pursuit long ago, they en- 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 8V 
 
 camped for ten days, enjoying to the utmost their recov- 
 ered freedom and their immunity from work of any kind. 
 Then they returned to the neighborhood of the settle- 
 ments, and broke up, as their leader proposed, into pairs. 
 They had been there but a short time before the depreda- 
 tions committed roused the settlers to band themselves 
 together. Every horse that could be spared was lent to 
 the military, who formed a mounted patrol of forty men, 
 while parties of infantry, guided by native trackers, were 
 constantly on the scent for the convicts. 
 
 " This is just what I expected," Captain Wild said to 
 his lieutenant. " It was the choice of two evils, and I 
 am not sure that the plan we chose was not the worst. 
 We might have been quite sure that these fellows would 
 not be able, even for a time, to give up their old ways. 
 If they had confined themselves, as we have done, to 
 taking a sheep when they wanted it, and behaving civilly 
 when they went to one of the houses and begged for a 
 few pounds of flour or tea, the settlers would have made 
 no great complaint of us; they know what a hard time 
 we have had, and you can see that some of the women 
 were really sorry for us, and gave us more than wo 
 actually asked for. But it lias not been so with the others , 
 They had been breaking into houses, stealing every • 
 thing they could lay their hands upon, and in three -or 
 four cases shooting down men on the slightest provo- 
 cation. 
 
 " The money and watches were no good to them, but 
 the brutes could not help stealing them; so bere we are, 
 and the settlement is like a swarm of angry bees, and 
 this plan of handing over most of their horses to the 
 military will end in all of us being hunted down if we 
 stay here. Two were shot yesterday, and in another week 
 we shall all either be killed or caught. There is noth- 
 ing for it but to clear out. I am against violence, not 
 on principle, but because in this case it sets people's 
 backs up; but it cannot be helped now. We must get a 
 couple of horses to ride, and a spare one to carry our 
 swag. We must have half a sack of flour and a sheep — it 
 is no use taking more than one, because the meat won't 
 keep — and a good stock of tea and sugar. We must get 
 
82 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 a good supply of powder, if we can, some bullets and 
 shot. We shall have to get our meat by shooting. 
 
 " There is no time to be lost, and to-night we had 
 netter go to that settler's place nearest the town. Pie 
 has got two of the best horses out here — at least so Eed- 
 grave, that shepherd I was talking to to-day, told me — 
 and a well-filled store of provisions. If he will let us 
 have them without rumpus, all well and good; if not, it 
 will be the worse for him. My idea is that we should 
 ride two or three hundred miles along the coast until we 
 get to a river, follow it up till we find a tidy place for 
 a camp, and stop there for three or four months, then 
 come back again and keep ourselves quiet until we find 
 <eut that a ship is going to sail; then we will do a night 
 among the farmhouses, and clean them out of their watches 
 and money, manage to get on board, and hide till we are 
 well out to sea. We must get a fresh fit-out before we go 
 on board; these clothes are neither handsome nor becom- 
 ing. We must put on our best manners, and tell them that 
 we are men who have served our full time, and want to 
 get back, and that we were obliged to hide because we 
 had not enough to pay our full passage money, but that 
 we have enough to pay the cost of our grub, and are ready 
 to pull at a rope and make ourselves useful in any way. 
 If we are lucky we ought to get enough before we start 
 to buy horses and set ourselves up well in business at 
 home." 
 
 " I think that is a very good plan," the other agreed, 
 " and I am quite sure the sooner we make oursel^s 
 scarce here the better." 
 
CHAPTER TI. 
 
 While arranging for young Bastow being sent out with 
 the first hatch of convicts John Thorndyke had been in- 
 troduced to several of the officials of the Department, 
 and called upon them at intervals to obtain news of the 
 penal colony. Three years after its establishment a 
 Crown colony had been opened for settlement in its 
 vicinity. As the climate was said to be very fine and the 
 country fertile, and land could be taken up without pay- 
 ment, the number who went out was considerable, there 
 being the additional attraction that convicts of good char- 
 acter would be allotted to settlers as servants and farm 
 hands. 
 
 Six years after Arthur Bastow sailed the Squire learned 
 that there had been a revolt among the convicts; several 
 had been killed, and the munity suppressed, but about a 
 dozen had succeeded in getting away. These had com- 
 mitted several robberies and some murders among the 
 settlers, and a military force and a party of warders from 
 Aie prison were scouring the country for them. 
 
 " Of course, Mr. Thorndyke," the official said, " the 
 Governor in his report does not gives us the names of any 
 of those concerned in the matter; he simply says that 
 although the munity was general, it was wholly the work 
 of a small number of the worse class of prisoners. By 
 worse class he means the most troublesome and refractory 
 out there. The prisoners are not classified according to 
 their original crimes. A poacher who has killed a game- 
 keeper, or a smuggler who has killed a revenue officer, 
 may in, other respects be a quiet and well-conducted man, 
 while men sentenced for comparatively minor offenses 
 may give an immense deal of trouble. I will, however, 
 get a letter written to the Governor, asking him if 
 Arthur Bastow was among those who took part in the 
 revolt, and if so what has become of him." 
 
 83 
 
84 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 It was more than a year before the reply came, and 
 then the Governor reported that Arthur Bastow, who 
 was believed to have been the leading spirit of the mutiny, 
 was among those who had escaped, and had not yet been 
 recaptured. It was generally believed that he had been 
 killed by the blacks, but of this there was no actual 
 proof. Mr. Bastow was much disturbed when he heard 
 the news. 
 
 " Suppose he comes back here, Mr. Thorndyke." 
 
 " I won't suppose anything of the sort," the Squire 
 replied. " I don't say that it would be altogether im- 
 possible, because now that vessels go from time to time 
 to Sydney, he might, of course, be able to hide up in one 
 of them, and not come on deck until she was well on her 
 way, when, in all probability, he would be allowed to 
 work his passage, and might be put ashore without any 
 information being given to the authorities. I have no 
 doubt that among the sailors there would be a good deal 
 of sympathy felt for the convicts. No doubt they have 
 a hard time of it, and we know that the gangs working 
 on the roads are always ironed. Still, this is very un- 
 likely, and the chances are all in favor of his being in hid- 
 ing in the bush. 
 
 " The shepherds and other hands on the farms are 
 chiefly convicts, and would probably give him aid if he 
 required it, and there would be no difficulty in getting a 
 sheep now and then, for, as all reports say, one of the 
 chief troubles out there are the wild dogs, or dingoes, as 
 they are called; any loss in that way would readily be put 
 clown to them. As to money, he would have no occasion 
 for it; if he wanted it he would get it by robbing the 
 settlers. He would know that if he came back here he 
 would run the risk of being seized at once on landing or 
 of being speedily hunted down as an escaped convict. I 
 don't think that there is the slightest occasion for us to 
 trouble ourselves about him." 
 
 But though the Squire spoke so confidently, he felt by 
 no means sure that Arthur Bastow would not turn up 
 again, for his reckless audacity had made a great impres- 
 sion upon him. The proceeds of the robberies in the 
 colony, in which he had no doubt played a part, would 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 85 
 
 have furnished him with money with which he could 
 bribe a sailor to hide him away and, if necessary, pay his 
 passage-money to England, when discovered on board, 
 and perhaps maintain him when he got home until he 
 could replenish his purse by some unlawful means. Lastly, 
 the Squire argued that the fellow's vindictive nature 
 and longing for revenge would act as an incentive to 
 bring him back to London. He talked the matter over 
 with Mark, who was now a powerful young fellow of 
 twenty, who, of course, remembered the incidents attend- 
 ing Bastow's capture and trial. 
 
 u I cannot help fancying that the fellow will come 
 back, Mark." 
 
 " Well, if he does, father, we must make it our business 
 to lay him by the heels again. You managed it last time, 
 and if he should turn up you may be sure I will help you 
 to do it again." 
 
 " Yes, but we may not hear of his having returned until 
 he strikes a blow. At any rate, see that your pistols are 
 loaded and close at hand at night." 
 
 " They always are, father. There is no saying when a 
 house like this, standing alone, and containing a good 
 deal of plate and valuables, may be broken into." 
 
 " Well, you might as well carry them always when you 
 go out after dark. I shall speak to Knapp, and request 
 him to let me know if he hears of a suspicious-looking 
 character — any stranger, in fact — being noticed in or 
 about the village, and I shall have a talk with Simcox, the 
 head constable at Eeigate, and ask him to do the same. 
 He is not the same man who was head at the time Bastow 
 was up before us, but he was in the force then, and, as 
 one of the constables who came up to take the prisoners 
 down to Keigate, he will have all the facts in his mind. 
 He is a sharp fellow, and though Bastow has no doubt 
 changed a good deal since then, he would hardly fail to 
 recognize him if his eye fell upon him. Of course we 
 may be alarming ourselves unnecessarily, but there are 
 several reasons why I should object strongly to be shot 
 just at the present time." 
 
 " Or at any other time, I should say, father," the young 
 man said with a lau^h. 
 
86 COLONEL THORNDYKE' S SECRET. 
 
 " I shall know him, Squire, safe enough," the head 
 constable replied when John Thorndyke went down to see 
 him on the following day; " but I should think that if he 
 does come back to England he will hardly be fool enough 
 to come down here. He was pretty well known in town 
 before that affair, and everyone who was in the court- 
 house would be sure to have his face strongly impressed 
 upon their minds. You may forget a man you have seen 
 casually, but you don't forget one you have watched 
 closely when he is in the dock with two others charged 
 with murder. Five out of my six men were constables at 
 that time, and would know him again the minute they 
 saw him; but anyhow, I will tell them to keep a sharp 
 lookout in the tramps' quarters, and especially over the 
 two or three men still here that Bastow used to consort 
 with. I should say that Reigate is the last place in the 
 world where he would show his face." 
 
 " I hope so," the Squire said. " He has caused trouble 
 enough down here as it is$ his father is getting an old 
 man now, and is by no means strong, and fresh troubles 
 of that kind would undoubtedly kill him." 
 
 A month later the Eeigate coach was stopped when a 
 short distance out of the town by two highwaymen, and 
 a considerable prize obtained by the robbers. Soon after- 
 wards came news of private carriages being stopped on 
 various commons in the South of London, and of several 
 burglaries taking place among the houses round Clapham, 
 Wandsworth, and Putney. Such events were by no means 
 uncommon, but following each other in such quick suc- 
 cession they created a strong feeling of alarm among the 
 inhabitants of the neighborhood. John Thorndyke, go- 
 ing up to town shortly afterwards, went to the head- 
 quarters of the Bow Street runners, and had a talk with 
 their chief in reference especially to the stoppage of the 
 Reigate coach. Mr. Chetwynd had lately died, and John 
 Thorndyke had been unanimously elected by his fellow- 
 magistrates as chairman of the bench. 
 
 " No, Mr. Thorndyke, we have no clew whatever. Our 
 men have been keeping the sharpest watch over the fel- 
 lows suspected of having a hand in such matters, but they 
 all seem keeping pretty quiet at present, and none of 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'JS SECRET. 87 
 
 them seem to be particularly flush with money. It is the 
 same with these burglaries in the South of London. "We 
 are at our wits' end about them. We are flooded with 
 letters of complaint from residents; but though the patrols 
 on the common have been doubled and every effort made, 
 we are as far off as ever. As far as the burglaries are 
 concerned, we have every reason to think that they are 
 the work of two or three new hands. The jobs are not 
 neatly done, and certainly not with tools usually used by 
 burglars. They seem to rely upon daring rather than 
 skill. Anyhow, we don't know where to look for them, 
 and are altogether at sea. 
 
 " Of course it is as annoying to us as it is to anyone else; 
 more so, because the Justices of the Peace are sending 
 eomplaints to the Home Secretary, and he in turn drops 
 on us and wants to know what we are doing. I have a 
 sort of fancy myself the fellows who are stopping the 
 coaches are the same as those concerned in the burglaries. 
 I could not give you my reasons for saying so, except that 
 on no occasion has a coach been stopped and a house 
 broken into on the same night. I fancy that at 
 present we shan't hear much more of them. They have 
 created such alarm that the coaches carry with them two 
 men armed with blunderbusses, in addition to the guards, 
 and I should fancy that every householder sleeps with 
 pistols within reach, and has got arms for his servants. 
 At many of the large houses I know a watchman has 
 been engaged to sit in the hall all night, to ring the 
 alarm-bell and wake the inmates directly he hears any 
 suspicious sounds. Perhaps the fellows may be quiet for 
 a time, for they must, during the last month, have got a 
 wonderful amount of spoil. Maybe they will go west — the 
 Bath road is always a favorite one with these fel- 
 lows — maybe they will work the nothern side of the 
 town. I hope we shall lay hands upon them one day, 
 but so far I may say frankly we have not the slightest 
 clew." 
 
 " But they must put their horses up somewhere? " 
 " Yes, but unfortunately there are so many small way- 
 side inns, that it is next to impossible to trace them. A 
 number of these fellows are in alliance with the high- 
 
88 ' COLONEL THORNJDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 waymen. Some of them, too, have small farms in addi- 
 tion to their public-honse businesses, and the horses may 
 he snugly put up there, while we are searching the inn 
 stables in vain. Again, there are rogues even among the 
 farmers themselves; little men, perhaps, who do not farm 
 more than thirty or forty acres, either working them 
 themselves, or by the aid of a hired man who lives per- 
 haps at a village a mile away. To a man of this kind, 
 the offer of a couple of guineas a week to keep two 
 horses in an empty cowshed, and to ask no questions, is a 
 heavy temptation. 
 
 " We have got two clever fellows going ■ about the 
 country inquiring at all the villages whether two mounted 
 men have lately been heard going through there late at 
 night, or early in the morning, so as to narrow down the 
 area to be searched, but nothing has come of it, although 
 I am pretty sure that they must have three or four places 
 they use in various directions. My men have picked up 
 stories of horsemen being heard occasionally, but they 
 come from various directions, and nowhere have they 
 been noticed with any regularity. Besides, there are other 
 knights of the road about, so we are no nearer than 'we 
 were on that line of inquiry." 
 
 A month later John Thorndyke had occasion to go up 
 again to town. This time Mark accompanied him. Both 
 carried pistols, as did the groom, sitting behind them. The 
 Squire himself was but a poor shot, but Mark had prac- 
 ticed a great deal. 
 
 " ? Tis a good thing to be able to shoot straight, Mark," 
 his father had said to him three years before. " I abhor 
 dueling, but there is so much of it at present that any 
 gentlemen might find himself in a position when he must 
 either go out or submit to be considered a coward. Then, 
 too, the roads are infested by highwaymen. For that 
 reason alone it would be well that a man should be able 
 to shoot straight. You should also practice sometimes at 
 night, setting up some object at a distance so that you 
 can just make out its outline, and taking a dozen shots at 
 it. I know it is very difficult when you cannot see your 
 own pistol, but you can soon learn to trust to your arm 
 to come up to the right height and in the right direction. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 89 
 
 Of course you must wait until morning to find out where 
 your bullet has gone." 
 
 Two days after they had reached town the Squire re- 
 ceived a letter from Mrs. Cunningham. 
 
 " Deae Me. Thoendtke: 
 
 " Knapp has been up this morning to tell me that a 
 stranger dismounted yesterday at the alehouse, and while 
 his horse was being fed he asked a few questions. Among 
 others, he wished to be told if you were at home, saying 
 that he had known you some fifteen years ago, when you 
 lived near Hastings, and should like to have a talk with 
 you again. In fact, he had turned off from the main road 
 ior the purpose. He seemed disappointed when he heard 
 that you had gone up to town, and hearing that you might 
 not be back for three or four days, said he should be com- 
 ing back through Eeigate in a week or ten days, and he 
 dared say he should be able to find time to call 'again. 
 Knapp did not hear about it until this morning; he asked 
 the landlord about the man, and the landlord said he was 
 about thirty, dark, and sparely built. He did not notice 
 his horse particularly, seeing that it was such as a small 
 squire or farmer might ride. He carried a brace of pistols 
 in his holsters. The landlord was not prepossessed with 
 his appearance, and it was that that made him speak to 
 Knapp about him. I have told the men to unfasten the 
 dogs every night, and I have asked Knapp to send up two 
 trustworthy men to keep watch." 
 
 " It may mean something, and it may not," the Squire 
 said, as he handed the letter to Mark. " It is a siis- 
 picious-looking circumstance; if the fellow had been hon- 
 est he would surely have said something about himself. 
 There is no doubt these housebreakers generally find out 
 what chance there is of resistance, and, hearing that we 
 were both away, may have decided on making an attempt. 
 I have pretty well finished our business and ordered nearly 
 all the provisions that Mrs. Cunningham requires. 13ut 
 J have to call at my lawyer's, and that is generally a 
 Longish business. It is half-past two o'clock now; if we 
 start from here at five we shall be down soon after eight* 
 
90 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 which will be quite soon enough. "We shall have a couple 
 of hours' drive in the dark, but that won't matter, we 
 have got the lamps." 
 
 " I am quite ready to start, father. I am engaged to 
 sup with Eeginald Ascot, but I will go over this afternoon 
 and make my excuses." 
 
 At five o'clock they started. 
 
 " You have got your pistols in order, Mark? " the 
 Squire asked, as they drove over London Bridge. 
 
 " I have them handy, father, one in each pocket." 
 
 "James, are your pistols charged?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 At six o'clock it was beginning to get dusk, and they 
 stopped while the groom got down and lit the lamps; 
 then they resumed their journey. They were within five 
 miles of Eeigate when suddenly two horsemen rode out 
 from a side road with a shout of " Stand and deliver! " 
 
 The Squire lashed the horses, and a moment later a 
 pistol was fired, and the ball went through his hat. By 
 the light of the lamps Mark saw the other man raise his 
 hand, and, leveling his pistol, fired on the instant; then, 
 as there was no reply to his shot, he discharged the second 
 barrel at the first who had fired, and who had at once 
 drawn another pistol. The two reports rang out almost 
 at the same moment, but Mark's was a little the first. 
 There was a sharp exclamation of pain from the high- 
 wayman, who wrenched round his horse and galloped down 
 the lane from which he had issued, the groom sending 
 two bullets after him. 
 
 "Where is the other man?" Mark exclaimed, as his 
 father reined in the horses. 
 
 " Somewhere on the ground there, Mark; I saw him fall 
 from his saddle as we passed him." 
 
 " Is it any use pursuing the other, father? I am pretty 
 sure I hit him." 
 
 " I am quite sure you did, but it is no good our fol- 
 lowing; the side roads are so cut up by ruts that we should 
 break a spring before we had gone a hundred yards. No, 
 we will stop and look at this fellow who is unhorsed, 
 Mark." 
 
 The groom got down, and, taking one of the carriage 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 91 
 
 lamps, proceeded to a spot where the highwayman's horse 
 was standing. The man was already dead, the hullet hav- 
 ing hit him a few inches above the heart. 
 
 " He is dead, father." 
 
 " I think you had better lift him up on the foot-board 
 behind; James can ride his horse. We will hand the body 
 over to the constable at Beigate. He may know who he 
 is, or find something upon him that may afford a clew that 
 will lead to the capture of his companion." 
 
 " No, I don't know him, Squire," the constable said as 
 they stopped before his house and told him what had 
 happened. "However, he certainly is dead, and I will 
 get one of the men to help me carry him into the shed 
 behind the courthouse. So you say that you think that 
 the other is wounded? " 
 
 " I am pretty sure he is. I heard him give an exclama- 
 tion as my son fired." 
 
 " That is good shooting, Mr. Mark," the constable said. 
 " If every passenger could use his arms as you do there 
 would soon be an end to stopping coaches. I will see what 
 he has got about him, and will come up and let you know, 
 Squire, the first thing in the morning." 
 
 " I will send Knapp down," John Thorndyke said, as 
 they drove homewards. " I am rather curious to know if 
 this fellow is the same Mrs. Cunningham wrote about. I 
 will tell him to take Peters along with him." 
 
 " I hardly see that there can be any connection between 
 the two. Highwaymen don't go in for housebreaking. 
 I think they consider that to be a lower branch of the 
 profession." 
 
 " Generally they do, no doubt, Mark; but you know I 
 told you that the chief at Bow Street said that he had 
 a suspicion that the highway robbers and the house- 
 breakers who have been creating so much alarm are the 
 same men." 
 
 " It is curious that they should have happened to light 
 on us, father, if they were intending to break into our 
 house." 
 
 John Thorndyke made no reply, and in a few minutes 
 drove up to the house. Their return, a couple of days 
 before they were expected, caused great satisfaction to 
 
92 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham and Millicent. The former, however, 
 had wisely kept from the girl the matter on which she 
 had written to the Squire, and the suspicion she had 
 herself entertained. 
 
 " It is very dull without you both," Millicent said. " I 
 was telling Mrs. Cunningham that I thought it would be 
 a good thing, when you got hack, for us two to take a 
 run up to town for a week, just to let you see how dull 
 the place is when two of us are away. You are looking 
 quite serious, uncle. Is anything the matter? " 
 
 " Happily nothing is the matter with us, dear, but we 
 have had an adventure, and not a very pleasant one." 
 
 "What was it?" the girl asked. 
 
 " If you examine my hat closely, Millicent, it will tell 
 
 you." 
 
 The girl took up the hat from a chair on which he had 
 put it, and brought it to the light. 
 
 " There are two holes in it," she said. " Oh, Guardy, 
 have you been shot at? " 
 
 " It looks like it, dear. Two gentlemen highwaymen — • 
 at least, that is what I believe they call themselves — asked 
 us pressingly to stop, and as we would not comply with 
 their request, one fired at me, and, as you see, it was an 
 uncommonly good shot. The other was about to fire 
 when Mark's pistol put a stop to him, and his second 
 barrel stopped the fellow who had fired first; he was hit, 
 for we heard him give an exclamation of pain, but before 
 any more shooting could be done he turned and rode off 
 down a narrow lane where we could not follow." 
 
 " And what became of the first ? " Millicent asked with 
 open eyes. 
 
 " He was dead before we could get down to examine 
 him; he will not disturb the King's peace again. It 
 happened about four miles from home, so we brought 
 him in and gave him and his horse into the charge of the 
 -constable at Reigate." 
 
 "And you have really killed a man?" Millicent said, 
 looking up with an awestruck expression to Mark. 
 
 " Well, as the man would have killed us if I hadn't, I 
 cannot say, Millicent, that his death weighs in any way 
 heavily on my mind. If he were as good a shot as the 
 
COLONEL TIIORNDYKE'S SECRET. 93 
 
 other, my father's life would not have been worth much, 
 for as we were driving fast, he was not above half as far 
 away as the other had been when he fired. Just the 
 same, I suppose, as it would be in a battle; a man is 
 going to shoot you, and you shoot him first, and I don't 
 suppose it ever troubles you afterwards." 
 
 " Of course I don't mean that I blame you, Mark; but 
 it does seem shocking." 
 
 " I don't suppose you would think that, Millicent, if a 
 burglar, who had taken one shot at you and was about 
 to finish you with another, was cut short in the operation 
 by a shot from my pistol. I believe that your relief and 
 thankfulness would be so great that the idea that it was 
 a shocking thing for me to do would not as much as enter 
 your head." 
 
 " I wish you had shot the other man as well as the one 
 you did, Mark," the Squire said, as he walked with his son 
 down to Eeigate to attend the inquest the next morning 
 on the man he had brought in. 
 
 Mark looked at bis father in surprise. 
 
 " There is no doubt I hit him, father," he said; " but I 
 should not think that he will be likely to trouble us 
 again." 
 
 " 1 wish I felt quite sure of that. Do you know that I 
 have a strong suspicion that it was Arthur Bastow? " 
 
 Mark had, of course, heard of Bastow's escape, but 
 had attached no great importance to it. The crime had 
 taken place nearly eight years before, and although 
 greatly impressed at the time by the ill-doings of the 
 man, the idea that he would ever return and endeavor to 
 avenge himself on his father for the part he had taken 
 had not occurred to him. Beyond mentioning his escape, 
 the Squire had never talked to him on the subject. 
 
 " It was he who bade us stand and deliver, and the 
 moment he spoke the voice seemed familiar to me, and, 
 thinking it over, I have an impression that it was his. I 
 may be mistaken, for I have had him in my mind ever 
 since I heard that he had escaped, and may therefore 
 have connected the voice with him erroneously, and yet I 
 cannot but think that I was right. You see, there are 
 two or three suspicious circumstances. In the first 
 
94 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 place, there was this man down here making inquiries, 
 Knapp went down early this morning with the innkeeper, 
 and told me before breakfast that Peters at once recog- 
 nized the fellow you shot as the man who had made the 
 inquiries. Now, the natural result of making inquiries 
 would have been that the two men would the next even- 
 ing have broken into the house, thinking that during 
 our absence they would meet with no resistance. Instead 
 of doing this they waylaid us on the road, which looks 
 as if it was me they intended to attack, and not the 
 house." 
 
 " But how could they have known that it was us, 
 father? It is certainly singular that one of the two men 
 should have been the fellow who was up at the inn, but 
 it may be only a matter of coincidence." 
 
 " I don't know, Mark; I don't say that singular coinci- 
 dences don't occur, but I have not much faith in them. 
 Still, if they were journeying down to attack the house last 
 night they would hardly have stopped travelers by the 
 way when there was a rich booty awaiting them, as they 
 evidently believed there was, or that man would not have 
 come down specially to make inquiries. My own impres- 
 sion is that when they heard that we should return in 
 two or three days one of them watched us in London, 
 and as soon as they learned that we were to start for 
 home at five o'clock they came down here to stop us. 
 They would hardly have done that merely to get our 
 watches and what money we had in our pockets." 
 
 " No, I should think not, father; but they might be 
 friends of men who have got into trouble at Reigate, and, 
 as you are chairman of the bench, may have had a special 
 grudge against you for their conviction." 
 
 " That is, of course, possible, and I hope that it 
 is so." 
 
 " But even if Arthur Bastow had escaped, father, why 
 should he come back to England, where he would know 
 that he might be arrested again, instead of staying quietly 
 out in Australia? " 
 
 " There are two reasons. In the first place the life 
 out there would not be a quiet one; there would be 
 nothing for him but to attack and rob the settlers, and 
 
COLONEL THOBNDTKE'8 SECRET. 95 
 
 this, as they are sure to be armed, is a pretty dangerous 
 business. Then there are perils from the blacks, and 
 lastly, such a life would be absolutely devoid of comfort, 
 and be that of a hunted dog, living always in the bush, 
 scarcely venturing to sleep lest he should be pounced 
 upon either by the armed constables of the colony or by 
 the blacks. It is not as if the country were extensively 
 populated; there are not a very large number of settlers 
 there yet, and therefore very small scope for robbers. 
 These people would keep very little money with them, 
 and the amount of plunder to be got would be small in- 
 deed. Therefore, I take it that the main object of any 
 escaped convict would be to get away from the place. 
 
 " That is one of the reasons why the fellow might 
 come back to England in spite of the risks. The other 
 is that I believe him to be so diabolically vindictive that 
 he would run almost any peril in order to obtain revenge 
 upon me or his father. Twice he has threatened me, the 
 first time when we captured him, the second time as he 
 left the court after he had received his sentence. I am 
 not a coward, so far as I know, Mark, but I am as certain 
 as I stand here that he meant what he said, and that, 
 during these years of imprisonment and toil out there, 
 he has been cherishing the thought of coming home 
 some day and getting even with me. You see, he is said 
 to have been the leader of this convict revolt. There is 
 no doubting his daring, and to my mind the attack upon 
 us last night, when they knew that they could have man- 
 aged a successful robbery here, points to the fact that iV 
 was the result of personal animosity, and strengthens my 
 belief that it was Arthur Bastow who called upon us to 
 stand and deliver." 
 
 " It is a very unpleasant idea, father." 
 
 " Very unpleasant, and it seems to me that we should 
 at any rate spare no pains in hunting the man you 
 wounded down." 
 
 " I will undertake that if you like. I have nothing 
 particular to do, and it would be an excitement. You 
 have a lot to keep you here." 
 
 " I don't fancy that you will find it an excitement, 
 Mark, for of course the detectives will do the hunting, 
 
96 COLONEL THOBNDYJIE'S SECRET. 
 
 but I should certainly be glad if you would take a letter 
 for me to the head of the Detective Department, and tell 
 him what I think, and my reasons for thinking so, and 
 say that I offer a reward of a hundred pounds for the 
 capture of the man who tried to stop us, and who was, 
 we are certain, wounded by you. Unless he has some 
 marvelously out-of-the-way hiding-place, it ought not 
 to be difficult. A wounded man could scarcely lie hidden 
 in the slums of London without it being known to a 
 good many people, to some of whom a reward of the 
 sum of a hundred pounds would be an irresistible 
 temptation." 
 
 By this time they had reached Eeigate. The inquest 
 did not last many minutes, and the jury without hesita- 
 tion returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The next morning Mark went np to London. 
 
 " Of course, Mr. Thorndyke," the chief at Bow Street 
 said, " your father's suspicions as to the man's identity 
 may or may not be justified; that, however, makes no 
 difference to us. Here is a highwayman who has been 
 wounded, and would certainly be a valuable capture. I 
 will set my men to work at once; if he is in London 
 they will get news of him before many days. My men 
 in any case would do their duty, but your father's offer 
 will certainly stimulate their energy. Where are you 
 stopping? " 
 
 " At the Bull, in Holborn." 
 
 " Very well; I will be sure to let you know as soon as 
 we get any clew to the man's identity." 
 
 Mark remained in London a Aveek, and at the end of 
 that time he received a note from Bow Street saying that 
 the superintendent wished to see him. 
 
 " I am sorry that I have no news for you, Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke," the officer said, when he called unon him. " Every 
 place where such a man would be likely to be in hiding 
 has been searched, and no clew whatever has been obtained. 
 We shall now circulate notices of the reward throughout 
 the country. If the man was at all severely hit, we may 
 assume that he must be somewhere in the neighborhood 
 of London, whereas, if the wound was a slight one, he 
 might be able to go a long distance, and may be now in 
 York, for aught we know. However, now that the search 
 in London has terminated, I can really see no use in your 
 staying here any longer; we will let you know directly we 
 have any news." 
 
 Three months later John Thorndyke received a letter 
 from the Detective Office asking him to call the next 
 
 97 
 
98 COLONEL THORND TEE'S SECRET. 
 
 time he came up to town, as although no news had been 
 obtained that would lead to the man's immediate arrest, 
 news, had, at any rate, been obtained showing that he was 
 alive. It happened that Mark was intending to go up on 
 the following day, and his father asked him to call for 
 him at Bow Street. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Thorndyke, we have heard about your man, 
 and that after we had quite abandoned the search. I 
 had come to the conclusion that the wound you gave him 
 had been a fatal one, and that he had been quietly buried 
 by some of the people with whom he was connected. The 
 discovery was, as half these discoveries generally are, the 
 result of accident. Last week a gentleman entered the 
 Bank and asked for change in gold for a fifty-pound note. 
 The cashier, looking at the number, found that it was 
 one of those that had been stolen from a passenger by one 
 of the south coaches several months ago. The gentleman 
 was at once taken into a private office, and questioned as 
 to how he had obtained the note. The account that he 
 gave was that he was a surgeon in practice at Southampton. 
 A gentleman had arrived there on a date which we found 
 to be the day after that on which you were stopped; he 
 was well-dressed, and had the air of a gentleman; he had 
 come down by coach, and was evidently very ill. He 
 told the surgeon that he had been engaged in a duel, 
 that the pistols had been discharged simultaneously, and 
 that he had killed his man, but had himself been severely 
 wounded. He said that the person whom he had killed 
 had influential connections, and that it would be neces- 
 sary for him to remain in seclusion for a time, and he 
 asked him to take charge of his case, as he had ample 
 means of paying him handsomely. The surgeon examined 
 the wound, and found it to be indeed a serious one, and, 
 as he thought, probably fatal. However, having no doubt 
 as to the truth of the story, he had taken the gentleman 
 in, and he remained under his charge until a week before 
 he came up to town. 
 
 " For the first month he had been dangerously ill, but 
 he completely recovered. The surgeon had no reason 
 whatever for doubting his patient being a gentleman; 
 he was fashionably dressed, and had evidently changed 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 99 
 
 his clothes after the duel, as there were no bloodstains 
 upon them. He was, however, glad when he left, as his 
 conversation did not please him from its cynical tone. The 
 Bank sent to us directly the man presented the note, 
 which he stated had been given to him in part payment 
 for his medical services and the board and lodging of 
 the patient; the total amount had been £75, and the 
 balance was paid in gold. As he was able to give several 
 good references, and was identified by three gentlemen, 
 he was, of course, released. I have no doubt whatever 
 that the fellow he attended was your man. The surgeon 
 said, whoever he was, he must have been a man of iron 
 resolution to have made such a journey in the state 
 he was. 
 
 " No doubt he must have ridden straight to the place 
 he used as his headquarters, where he had his wound 
 roughly bandaged, changed his clothes, and had ridden 
 in the morning to some point that the coach passed on 
 its way to Southampton. Of course we obtained a minute 
 description from the surgeon of the man's appearance. 
 We found that the people at the coach-office had no re- 
 membrance of there being anyone answering to that de- 
 scription among the persons who traveled by the coach, 
 but of course that would not go for much, for over three 
 months have elapsed. 
 
 " When the coachman who had driven the down coach 
 that day came up to -town, we saw him, and he remem- 
 bered perfectly that on or about that day he had picked 
 up a passenger at Kingston — a gentleman who was in 
 very weak health. There were only three inside pas- 
 sengers besides himself, and he had to be assisted into 
 the coach. The way-bill, on being turned up, showed 
 that an inside passenger had been taken up at Kingston. 
 I have already sent down men to make inquiries at every 
 village in the district between Reigate and Kingston, and 
 I trust that we shall lay hands on him, especially now we 
 have got an accurate description of him, while before we 
 were working in the dark in that respect." 
 
 " What is the description, sir? My father is much in- 
 terested on that point, for, as I believe I told you, he 
 has a strong suspicion that the fellow is the man who 
 
100 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 was transported more than eight years ago to Australia, 
 and who made his escape from the prison there." 
 
 " Yes, I know. At first it appeared to me very im- 
 probable, but I am bound to say the description tallies 
 very closely with that given of him. The surgeon took 
 him to be nearly thirty; but after what he has gone 
 through he may well look three or four years older than 
 he is. He had light hair, rather small gray eyes, and a 
 face that would have been good-looking had it not been 
 for its supercilious and sneeriug expression." 
 
 " I can remember him," Mark said; " and that answers 
 very closely to him. I should say that it is certainly 
 Bastow, and my father made no mistake when he asserted 
 that he recognized his voice." 
 
 The officer added a note to the description in his 
 register: " Strongly suspected of being Arthur Bastow, 
 transported for connivance with highwaymen; was leader 
 of a mutiny in convict jail of Sydney two years and a 
 half ago. Made his escape." 
 
 " There is no doubt," he went on, " that he is a des- 
 perate character. No doubt he is the man who has been 
 concerned in most of these robberies in the southern 
 suburbs. "We must get hold of him if we can, and once 
 we do so there will be an end of his travels, for the 
 mutiny in prison and escape is a hanging business, putting 
 aside the affairs since he got back. Well, sir, I hope he 
 Will give you and your father no more trouble." 
 
 " I am sure I hope so," Mark said. " I suppose that 
 the fellow who was shot was one of the men who escaped 
 with him from the convict prison." 
 
 " That is likely enough. Two would get home as easily 
 as one, and th° fact that they were both' strangers here 
 would account ^or the difficulty our men have had in 
 their search for him. You see, we have had nothing 
 whatever to go on. You must not be too sanguine about 
 our catching the man in a short time: he is evidently a 
 clever fellow, and I think it likely that once he got back 
 he lost no time in getting away from this part of the 
 country, and we are more likely to find him in the west 
 or north than we are of laying hands on him here. We 
 will send descriptions all over the country, and as soon 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 10l 
 
 as I hear of a series of crimes anywhere, I will send off 
 two of my best men to help the local constables." 
 
 On his return home Mark told his father what he had 
 done. 
 
 " I thought that I could not have been mistaken, Mark; 
 we have got that rascal on our hands again. I hope now 
 that they have got a description of him to go by, they 
 will not be long before they catch him; but the way he 
 escaped after being badly wounded shows that he is full 
 of resources, and he may give them some trouble yet, if I 
 am not mistaken. At any rate, I will have a talk with the 
 Reigate constable, and tell him that there is very little 
 doubt that the man who attacked us was Arthur Bastow, 
 who has, as we have heard, escaped from Botany Bay, 
 and that he had best tell his men to keep a sharp look- 
 out for him, for that, owing to his animosity against us 
 for his former capture and conviction, it is likely enough 
 that sooner or later he will be in this neighborhood again. 
 After his determined attempt at my life when pretending 
 to rob us, I shall certainly not feel comfortable until I 
 know that he is under lock and key." 
 
 " I wish, Guardy, you would give up this magistrate's 
 business," Millicent said at dinner. a I am sure that it 
 is worrying you, and I can't see why you should go on 
 with it." 
 
 " It does not worry me, as a rule, Millicent; indeed, 
 I like the duty. Besides, every landowner of standing 
 ought to take his share in public work. There are only 
 two of the magistrates younger than I am, and whatever 
 you may think of me, I feel myself capable of doing what 
 work there is to do. When Mark gets a few years older 
 I shall resign, and let him take my place on the bench. 
 I own, though, that I should be glad if these highway 
 robberies could be suppressed. Poaching and the ordi- 
 nary offenses of drunkenness and assaults are disposed of 
 without any trouble; but this stopping of the coaches, 
 accompanied occasionally by the shooting of the coach- 
 man or guard, gives a great deal of trouble, and the worst 
 of it is that we are practically powerless to put sucb 
 crimes down. ^Nothing short of patrolling the roads in 
 parties of three or f oiu between sunset and sunrise would 
 
102 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 put a stop to them, and the funds at our disposal would 
 not support such an expenditure." 
 
 " It is a pity that you cannot get up a corps like the 
 yeomanry, and call it the Mounted Constabulary," said 
 Mark. " There are at least a dozen fellows I know who 
 would, like myself, be glad to join it, and I dare say we 
 could get a score of young farmers or farmers' sons." 
 
 " It is not a bad idea, Mark, and I dare say that for 
 a time the duty would be zealously performed, but before 
 very long you would tire of it. A few wet nights or 
 winter's cold, and you would cease to see the fun of it, 
 especially as you may be sure that the news that the roads 
 are well patrolled would soon come to the ears of these 
 scoundrels, and they would cease to work in the district." 
 
 " Perhaps you are right, sir; but I think that a few of 
 us would stick to it." 
 
 " Perhaps so, Mark, but I should be sorry to wager that 
 the work would be thoroughly done. The first county or 
 hunt ball, or even dinner-party, more than half of them 
 would be away. I don't say that you personally might not 
 for some considerable time persist in patrolling the roads, 
 for you have a sort of personal interest in the matter; 
 but I would wager that before two months have passed 
 you would find you were the only one who attended at the 
 rendezvous regularly." 
 
 A fortnight later the party were seated round the fire 
 in the dusk. Mr. Bastow was sitting next to the Squire, 
 and was in unusually good spirits. He had heard no 
 word of what the Squire had discovered, nor dreamed 
 that his son was again in England, still less 1 that he was 
 suspected of being one of the men who had endeavored 
 to stop the Squire and his son on their drive from 
 London. Suddenly there was the crack of a pistol out- 
 side, and a ball passed between him and the Squire. 
 Without a word, Mark Thorndyke rushed to the door, 
 seized a pistol from his riding-coat, and, snatching up a 
 heavy whip, dashed out into the garden. 
 
 He was just in time to see a figure running at full 
 speed, and he set off in pursuit. Good runner as he was, 
 he gained but slightly at first, but after a time he drew 
 nearer to the fugitive. The latter was but some sixty 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 103 
 
 yards away when he leaped a hedge into a narrow _ane. 
 Mark followed without hesitation, but as he leaped into 
 the road he heard a jeering laugh and the sharp sound 
 of a horse's hoofs, and knew that the man he was pur- 
 suing had gained his horse and made off. Disgusted at 
 his failure, he went slowly back to the house. The shut- 
 ters had been put up. 
 
 " I have lost him, father. He ran well to begin with, 
 but I was gaining fast on him when he leaped into a nar- 
 row lane where he had left his horse, and rode off before 
 I could get up to him. I need hardly say that there was 
 no use attempting to follow on foot. He missed you all, 
 did he not?" 
 
 " Yes, Mark. It is not so easy to take an accurate 
 aim when it is nearly dark. The bullet passed between 
 myself and Mr. Bastow, and has buried itself in the 
 mantelpiece." 
 
 " Something ought to be done, Guardy," Millicent Con- 
 yers said indignantly. " It is shameful that people cannot 
 sit in their own room without the risk of being shot at. 
 What can it mean? Surely no one can have any enmity 
 against you." 
 
 " I hope not, my dear," John Thorndyke said lightly. 
 " Some of the fellows we have sentenced may think that 
 we were rather hard on them, but I do not think that 
 any of them would feel it sufficiently to attempt to mur- 
 der one; besides, Mark says that the fellow had a horse 
 waiting for him, and none of our poachers would be 
 likely to be the owner of a horse. It may be that the 
 highwayman Mark shot at and wounded has come down 
 to give us a fright. It is no use worrying about it now; 
 in future we will have the shutters closed at sunset. It is 
 hardly likely that the thing will be attempted again, and 
 Mark's chase must have shown the fellow that the game 
 is hardly worth the risk." 
 
 " He might have shot you, Mark; you had no right to 
 risk your life in that sort of way," the girl said to him 
 later, as they were seated together in front of the fire, 
 while the Squire was reading the Gazette at the table, 
 Mrs. Cunningham wars working, and Mr. Bastow, who 
 had been greatly shaken by the event, had retired to 
 
104 COLONEL THORNBYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 "bed. " Do you think that he really meant to kill your 
 father? " 
 
 " I should imagine he did; a man would hardly run the 
 risk of being hung merely for the pleasure of shooting. 
 I would give a good deal if I had caught him, or better 
 still, if I had shot him," said Mark. " However, I will 
 make it my business to hunt the fellow down. After 
 this evening's affair, we shall never feel comfortable until 
 he is caught. I have no doubt that he is the fellow we 
 have been hunting for the last four months. The people 
 at Bow Street seem no good whatever; I will try if I 
 cannot succeed better." 
 
 " Don't do anything rash, Mark," said Millicent, in a 
 low voice; "you have no right to put yourself in 
 danger." 
 
 " But our lives are in danger now, Millicent — in much, 
 greater danger than mine would be when looking out 
 for him. But there seems no guarding against attacks 
 like this; I mean to hunt him down, if it takes me a 
 year. I have nothing special to do, and cannot employ 
 my time more usefully." 
 
 When the ladies went up to bed the Squire said: 
 
 " Come into the library, Mark, and we will smoke a 
 pipe, and have a talk over this business." He touched 
 the bell. " Have you got a good fire in the library, 
 Eamoo? " 
 
 " Yes, sahib, very good." 
 
 " Then take a bottle of number one bin of port there 
 and a couple of glasses." 
 
 When they were quietly seated, glasses filled, and the 
 long pipes alight, the Squire said: "I want to have a 
 serious talk with you, Mark. What I am going to say 
 will surprise you a good deal. I had not intended to tell 
 you for another four years — that is to say, not until Milli- 
 cent came of age — but after that affair to-night, I feel that 
 my life is so uncertain that I ought not to delay letting 
 you know the truth. I suppose you agree with me that it 
 was Bastow who shot at me this evening? " 
 
 " I have not the least doubt about that, father." 
 
 " I will not say that he shot at me," the Squire said, 
 " for he may have shot at his father; the villain is quite 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 105 
 
 capable of that. It was his father who brought me upon 
 him, and though I effected his capture eight years ago 
 I don't suppose he cared which of us he killed. However, 
 the point is not what he aimed at, but whether it was he, 
 and that I take there is no doubt about. He missed me 
 this time, but his next shot may be more successful. 
 At any rate, I think that it is high time that I told you 
 the story." 
 
 And, beginning with the arrival of Colonel Thorndyke 
 at his place, he repeated the conversation that he had 
 had with him. Several times in the early portion of his 
 narrative he was interrupted by exclamations of surprise 
 from his son. 
 
 "Then Millicent is really my uncle's heiress!" ex- 
 claimed Mark, when he heard the request the Colonel 
 had made of the Squire. 
 
 " That is so, Mark. She does not know it herself, and 
 it was my brother's urgent wish that she should not know 
 it until she came of age or until she married. I fought 
 against it to the utmost, but it was his dying prayer, and 
 I could not refuse it. My solicitor knows the facts of 
 the matter, and so does Mrs. Cunningham, who brought 
 Millicent over from India when she was only about a year 
 old. I may say that I especially urged that it would not 
 be fair to you to be brought up to consider yourself to 
 be heir to the property, but he said: 
 
 " ' Putting aside the estate, I have a considerable for- 
 tune. In the first place, there are the accumulations of 
 rent from the Eeigate place. I have never touched them, 
 and they have been going on for twelve years. In the 
 next place, the shaking of the pagoda tree has gone on 
 merrily, and we all made a comfortable pile. Then I 
 always made a point of carrying about with me two or 
 three hundred pounds, and after the sacking of some of 
 the palaces I could pick up jewels and things from the 
 troops for a trifle, being able to pay money down. p]ven 
 without the rents here, I have some £50,000 in money. 
 I should think the jewels would be worth at least as much 
 more, irrespective of a diamond bracelet which is, I fancy, 
 worth more than the rest put together. It was stolen 
 from the arm of some idol.' He then explained how he 
 
106 COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 got it, and the manner in which he had placed it and the 
 rest of his wealth in a secure position. 
 
 " ' Things stolen from a god are frightfully dangerous,' 
 he said, ' for the Brahmins or priests connected with the 
 temples have been known to follow them up for years, 
 and in nine cases out of ten they get possession of them 
 again. Murder in such a case is meritorious, and I would 
 not have them in the house here, were they ten times the 
 value they are. I know that my clothes, my drawers, and 
 everything belonging to me have been gone through at 
 night a score of times. Nothing has been stolen, but, 
 being a methodical man, I could generally see some dis- 
 placement in the things that told me they had been 
 disturbed. They gave it up for a time, but I haven't a 
 shadow of a doubt that they have been watching me ever 
 since, and they may be watching me now, for anything I 
 know. Now, half of that fortune I have left by my will 
 to your son; half to the girl. I will tell you where the 
 things are the last thing before I die. 
 
 " ' Now, mind, you must be careful when you get them. 
 When I am dead you are almost certain to be watched. 
 You don't know what these fellows are. The things must 
 remain where they are until your boy comes of age. Don't 
 let him keep those diamonds an hour in his possession; 
 let him pass them away privately to some man in whom 
 he has implicit confidence, for him to take them to a 
 jeweler's; let him double and turn and disguise himself 
 so as to throw everyone that may be spying on him off 
 his track. If you can manage it, the best way would be 
 to carry them over to Amsterdam, and sell them there.' 
 
 " I confess it seemed absurd, but it is a matter about 
 which he would know a great deal more than I do, and 
 he was convinced that not only was he watched, but that 
 he owed his life simply to the fact that the fellows did 
 not know where the diamonds were hidden, and that by 
 killing him they would have lost every chance of regain- 
 ing them. 
 
 " So convinced was he of all this, that he would not 
 tell me where he had stowed them away; he seemed to 
 think that the very walls would hear us, and that these 
 fellows might be hidden under the sofa, in a cupboard, or 
 
COLONEL TRORNDYKE'S 8E0RET. 107 
 
 up the chimney, for aught I know. He told me that he 
 would tell me the secret before he died; but death came 
 so suddenly that he never had an opportunity of doing 
 so. He made a tremendous effort in his last moment, but 
 failed, and I shall never forget the anguish his face ex- 
 pressed when he found himself powerless to speak; how- 
 ever, he pressed his snuffbox into my hand with such a 
 significant look that, being certain it contained some clew 
 to the mystery, and being unable to find a hidden spring 
 or a receptacle, I broke it open that night. 
 
 " It contained a false bottom, and here are what I 
 found in it. I stowed them away in a secret drawer in 
 that old cabinet that stands by my bedside. It is in the 
 bottom pigeonhole on the right-hand side. I bought the 
 cabinet at a sale, and found the spring of the secret 
 drawer quite accidentally. I shall put the things back 
 to-night, and you will know where to look for them. You 
 press against the bottom and up against the top simulta- 
 neously, and the back then falls forward. The opening 
 behind is very shallow, and will hold but two or three 
 letters. But, however, it sufficed for this; " and he handed 
 Mark the coin and slip of paper. 
 
 " But what are these, father? " 
 
 " These are the clews by which we are to obtain the 
 treasure." 
 
 As Mark examined them carefully the Squire stood up 
 with his back to the fire, and looking round walked to the 
 door and said: 
 
 " I thought there was a draught somewhere; either 
 Ramoo did not shut the door when he went out or it has 
 come open again. It has done that once or twice before. 
 When I go into town to-morrow I will tell Tucker to 
 send a man up to take the lock off. Well, what do you 
 make out of that?" 
 
 " I can make out nothing," Mark replied. " No doubt 
 the coin is something to be given to whoever is in charge 
 of the treasure, and Masulipatam may be the place where 
 it is hidden." 
 
 " Yes, or it may be a password. It reminds cue of 
 the forty thieves business. You go and knock at the 
 door of a cave, a figure armed to the teeth presents itself, 
 
108 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET 
 
 you whisper in his ear • Masulipatam,' he replies ' Madras/ 
 or ' Calcutta,' or something of that sort, you take out 
 the coin and show it to him, he takes out from some 
 hidden repository a similar one, compares the two, and 
 then leads you to an inner cave piled up with jewels." 
 
 Mark laughed. 
 
 " Well, it is no laughing matter, Mark," the Squire 
 went on seriously. " The little comedy may not be 
 played just as I have sketched it, but I expect that it is 
 something of the kind. That coin has to be shown, and 
 the word ' Masulipatam ' spoken to the guardian, whoever 
 he may be, of your uncle's treasure. But who that guard- 
 ian may be or how he is to be 1 found is a mystery. I 
 myself have never tried to solve it. There was nothing 
 whatever to go upon. The things may be in England 
 or, it may be, anywhere in India. To me it looked an 
 absolutely hopeless business to set about. I did not see 
 how even a first step was to be taken, and as I had this 
 estate and you and Millicent to look after, and was no 
 longer a young man, I put the matter aside altogether. 
 You are young, you have plenty of energy, and you have 
 your life before you, and it is a matter of the greatest 
 interest to you. 
 
 " Possibly — very improbably, mind, still possibly — when 
 Millicent comes of age and learns who she is, Mrs. Cun- 
 ningham may be able to help you. I have no idea 
 whether it is so. I have never spoken to her about this 
 treasure of George's, but it is just possible that while he 
 was in town before he came down to me he may have 
 given her some instructions concerning it. Of course he 
 intended to give me full particulars, but he could hardly 
 have avoided seeing that, in the event of my death, per- 
 haps suddenly before the time came for seeking the 
 treasure, the secret would be lost altogether. Whether 
 he has told her or his lawyer or not I cannot saj > but I 
 have all along clung to the hope that he took some such 
 natural precaution. Unless that treasure is discovered, 
 the only thing that will come to you is the half of the 
 accumulated rents of this estate during the ten years be- 
 tween my father's death and George's; these rents were 
 paid to our solicitors, and by them invested. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 109 
 
 " The rentals amount to about £2500 a year, and of 
 course there is interest to be added, so that I suppose 
 there is now some £25,000, for I had out £2000 when 
 I came here, to set matters straight. I had a great fight 
 with the lawyers over it, but as I pointed out- they had 
 failed altogether to see that the agent did his duty, and 
 that at least a couple of hundred a year ought to be 
 expended in necessary repairs, I had a right to at least 
 that sum to carry out the work that ought to be done 
 from year to year. In addition to that sum I laid out 
 about £1000 a year for the first three years I was here; 
 so that practically £5000 was expended in rebuilding the 
 village and doing repairs on the homesteads; that, how- 
 ever, is not the point now. Altogether, then, there is some 
 £25,000 to be divided between you and Millicent when she 
 becomes mistress of this property. 
 
 " According to the terms of my brother's will, I am still 
 to remain here until she marries; when she does so I shall, 
 of course, go back to my own little place; the income of 
 that has been accumulating while I have been here, my 
 only expenses having been for clothes. I have taken 
 nothing out of this estate since I came here, and each year 
 have paid to the solicitors all balances remaining after 
 discharging the household expenses, these balances 
 averaging £700 or £800 a year. Of course • the income 
 was absolutely left to me during the time I remained os- 
 tensible owner, but I had no wish to make money out of a 
 trust that I assumed greatly against my will. That money 
 is Millicent's; of course the house had to be kept up in 
 proper style whether I were here or not. Had she at once 
 come into possession, there must have been horses, and 
 carriages, and so on. I don't say that I have not had all 
 the expenses of our living saved; that I had no objection 
 to; but I was determined at least not to take a penny out 
 of the estate beyond those expenses. You see, Mark, you 
 will have your £12,500 anyhow, as soon as Millicent comes 
 of age — not a bad little sum — so that even if you never 
 hear anything more of this mysterious treasure you will 
 not be penniless, or in anyway dependent upon me. At 
 my death, of course, you will come into the Sussex place, 
 with what savings there may be." 
 
110 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " I am sure I have no reason to grumble, father/' Mark 
 said heartily. " Of course it came upon me at first as 
 a surprise that Millicent was the heiress here, and it 
 flashed through my mind for the moment that the best 
 thing would be to take a commission in the army, or to 
 follow my uncle's example, and get a cadetship in the 
 Company's service. I have no doubt that I should have 
 enjoyed life either way quite as much or possibly more 
 than if I had gone on a good many years as heir to 
 these estates, and afterwards as Squire. Of course, now 
 I shall make it my business to see if it is possible to 
 obtain some sort of clew to this treasure, and then follow 
 it up; but the first thing to which I shall give my mind 
 will be to hunt down Bastow. We shall never feel safe 
 here as long as that fellow is alive, and that will be the 
 first thing I shall devote myself to. After that I shall 
 see about the treasure." 
 
 " As to that, Mark, I cannot impress upon you too 
 strongly what your uncle said. It may, of course, be a 
 pure delusion on his part; but if he is right, and some 
 of these Hindoo fellows are still on the watch to obtain 
 that bracelet, you must use extraordinary precautions 
 when you get it into your hands; he advised me to take 
 it across to Amsterdam, and either get the stones recut 
 or to sell them separately to different diamond merchants 
 there. He said that my life would not be worth an hour's 
 purchase as long as the stones were in my hands." 
 
 " That rather looks, father, as if the things were some- 
 where in England; had they been in India, you would have 
 had them some months in your hands before you could 
 get them to Amsterdam." 
 
 " I did not think of that before, Mark, and it is possible 
 that you are right; but I don't know; he might have 
 thought that it would be impossible for me to dispose 
 of them at Madras or Calcutta, and may have assumed 
 that I should at once deposit them in a bank to be 
 forwarded with other treasure to England, or that I 
 should get them packed away in the treasure safe in the 
 ship I came back by, and that I should not really have 
 them on my person till I landed in England, or until I 
 took them from the Bank. Still, I see that your suppo* 
 
COLONEL THQRNDYKE'S SECRET. Ill 
 
 sition is the most likely, and that they may all this time 
 have been lying somewhere in London until I should 
 present myself with a gold coin and the word ' Masuli- 
 patam.' " 
 
 Suddenly Mark sprang to his feet, and pulled back 
 the curtains across a window, threw it up, and leaped 
 into the garden, and there stood listening for two or three 
 minutes, with his pistol cocked in his hand. He stepped 
 for a moment into the room again. 
 
 " You had better put that light out, father, or we may 
 have another shot.'"' 
 
 "Did you hear anything, Mark?" 
 
 " I thought I did, father. I may have been mistaken, 
 but I certainly thought I heard a noise, and when I pulled 
 the curtains aside the window was not shut by three or 
 four inches. I will have a look through the shrubbery. 
 That fellow may have come back again. Pull the curtains 
 to after me." 
 
 " I will go with you, Mark." • 
 
 " I would rather you didn't, father; it would only make 
 me nervous. I shan't go into the shrubbery and give 
 them a chance of getting first shot. I shall hide up some- 
 where and listen. It is a still night, and if there is anyone 
 moving I am pretty sure to hear him." 
 
 The Squire turned down the lamp, drew the curtains, 
 and seated himself by the fire. It was three-quarters of 
 an hour before Mark returned. He shut the window, and 
 fastened it carefully. 
 
 " I fancy you must have been mistaken, Mark." 
 
 " I suppose that shot through the window has made 
 me nervous. I certainly did fancy I heard a noise there; 
 it may have been a dead bough snapping, or something 
 of that sort; and of course, the window being partly open, 
 even though only three or four inches, any little noise 
 would come in more plainly than it otherwise would 
 do. However, everything has been perfectly quiet since 
 I went out, and it is hardly likely indeed that the fel- 
 low would have returned so soon after the hot chase I 
 gave him." 
 
 " It is very stupid — the window being left open," the 
 Squire said. " I shall question Martha about it in the 
 
 X 
 
112 COLONEL TEORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 morning; it was her duty to see that it was shut and 
 fastened before drawing the curtains. Just at present 
 one can scarcely be tco careful. I don't mean to deny 
 that whether there was a window open or not a burglar 
 who wanted to get into the house could do so, still there 
 is no use in making their work more easy for them. I 
 know, as a rule, we are careless about such things; there 
 has not been a burglary in this part for years, and. until 
 lately the front door has never been locked at night, and 
 anyone could, have walked in who wanted to. Of course 
 the servants don't know that there is any reason for being 
 more careful at present than usual. 
 
 " I was thinking the other day of having shutters put 
 to all these downstair rooms. Some of them have got 
 them, and some have not; still, even with shutters, bur- 
 glars can always get in if they want to do so. They have 
 only to cut round the lock of a door or to make a hole 
 in a panel to give them room to put an arm through and 
 draw back a bolt, and the thing is done. I know that 
 all the silver is locked up every night in the safe, for 
 Eamoo sees to that, and I have never known him neg- 
 lect anything under his charge. Well, Mark, I don't know 
 that it is any use sitting up longer, we have plenty of 
 time to talk the matter over; it is four years yet before 
 Millicent comes of age, though, of course, there is nothing 
 to prevent your setting out in quest ef the treasure as 
 soon as you like. Still, there is no hurry about it." 
 
 "None whatever, father; but I don't mean to lose a : 
 day before I try to get on the track of that villain. 
 Bastow." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mark was some hours before he went to sleep. The 
 news that he had heard that evening was strange and 
 startling. Full of health and strength, the fact that he 
 was not, as he had always supposed, the heir to the estate 
 troubled him not at all. The fact that in four years he 
 would come in for some twelve thousand pounds was 
 sufficient to prevent his feeling any uneasiness as to his 
 future; and indeed in some respects it was not an unpleas- 
 ant idea that, instead of being tied down to the estate, 
 he should be able to wander at will, visit foreign countries, 
 and make his own life. 
 
 In one respect he was sorry. His father had in the 
 last year hinted more than once that it would be a very 
 nice arrangement if he were to make up a match with his. 
 ward; 'he had laugbed, and said that there would be 
 plenty of time for that yet. But the idea had been an 
 agreeable one. Ho was very fond of Millicent — fond v 
 perhaps, in a cousinly way at present; but at any rate ho 
 liked her far better than any of the sisters of his friends. 
 Of course she was only seventeen yet, and there was 
 plenty of time to think of marriage in another three 
 years. Still, the thought occurred to him several times 
 that she was budding out into a young woman, and every 
 month added to her attractions. It Avas but the day be- 
 fore he had said to himself that there was no reason to 
 wait as long as three years, especially as his father seemed 
 anxious, and would evidently be glad were the match to 
 take place. Now, of course, he said to himself, that was 
 at an end. 
 
 He had never given her any reason to suppose that he 
 cared for her, and now that she was the heiress and he 
 comparatively poor, she would naturally think that it 
 was for the estate, and not for herself, that she was wooed. 
 
 118 
 
114 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Then there was the question of this curiously lost treas- 
 ure, with the mysterious clew that led to nothing. How 
 on earth was he to set about the quest? He puzzled for 
 a long time over this, till at last he fell asleep. He was 
 roused by Eamoo entering the room. 
 
 "What is it, Eamoo?" 
 
 " Me not know, sahib. Massa Thorndyke's door shut. 
 Me no able to make him hear." 
 
 " That is curious, Eamoo/' Mark said, jumping hastily 
 out of bed. " I will be with you in a minute." He 
 slipped on his trousers, coat, and slippers, and then ac- 
 companied Eamoo to his father's door. He knocked again 
 and again, and each time more loudly, his face growing 
 paler as he did so. Then he threw himself against the 
 door, but it was solid and heavy. 
 
 " Fetch me an ax, Eamoo," he said. " There is some- 
 thing wrong here." 
 
 Eamoo returned in a short time with two men-servants 
 and with the ax in his hands. Mark took it, and with 
 a few mighty blows split the woodwork, and then hurling 
 himself against the door, it yielded. As he entered the 
 room a cry broke from his lips. Within a pace or two 
 of the bed the Squire lay on the ground, on his face, and 
 a deep stain on the carpet at once showed that his death 
 had been a violent one. Mark knelt by his side now, 
 and touched him. The body was stiff and cold. The 
 Squire must have been dead for some hours. 
 
 " Murdered! " he said in a low voice; " my father has 
 been murdered." He remained in horror-struck silence 
 for a minute or two; then he slowly rose to his feet. 
 
 " Let us lay him on the bed," he said, and with the 
 assistance of the three men he lifted and laid him there. 
 
 " He has been stabbed," he murmured, pointing to a 
 small cut in the middle of the deep stain, just over the 
 heart. 
 
 Eamoo, after helping to lift the Squire onto the bed, 
 had slid down to the floor, and crouched there, sobbing 
 convulsively. The two servants stood helpless and aghast. 
 Mark looked round the room: the window was open. He 
 walked to it. A garden ladder stood outside, showing 
 how the assassin had obtained entrance. Mark stood rigid 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 115 
 
 and silent, his hands tightly clenched, his breath coming 
 slowly and heavily. At last he roused himself. 
 
 " Leave things just as they are," he said to the men in 
 a tone of unnatural calmness, " and fasten the door up 
 again, and turn a table or something of that sort against 
 it on the outside, so that no one can come in. John, do 
 you tell one of the grooms to saddle a horse and ride down 
 into the town. Let him tell the head constable to come 
 up at once, and also Dr. Holloway. Then he is to go on 
 to Sir Charles Harris, tell him what has happened, and 
 beg him to ride over at once. Come, Eamoo," he said in 
 a softer voice, " you can do no good here, poor fellow, 
 and the room must be closed. It is a heavy loss to 
 you too." 
 
 The Hindoo rose slowly, the tears streaming down his 
 face. 
 
 " He was a good master," he said, " and I loved him just 
 as I loved the Colonel, sahib. Eamoo would have given 
 his life for him." 
 
 With his hand upon Eamoo's shoulder, Mark left the 
 room; he passed a group of women huddled together with 
 blanched faces, at a short distance down the passage, the 
 news that the Squire's door could not be opened and 
 the sounds made by its being broken in having called 
 them together. Mark could not speak. He silently shook 
 his head and passed on. As he reached his room he heard 
 shrieks and cries behind him, as the men informed them 
 of what had taken place. On reaching his door, the 
 one opposite opened, and Mrs. Cunningham in a dressing- 
 gown came out. 
 
 " What is the matter, Mark, and what are these cries 
 .about? " 
 
 "A dreadful thing has happened, Mrs. Cunningham; 
 my father has been murdered in the night. Please tell 
 Millicent." 
 
 Then he closed the door behind liim, threw himself on 
 his bed, and burst into a passion of tears. The Squire 
 had been a good father to him, and had made him his 
 friend and companion — a treatment rare indeed at a time 
 when few sons would think of sitting down in their 
 father's presence until told to do so. Since he had left 
 
116 COLONEi, THORNDYZE'S SECRET. 
 
 school, eight years before, they had been very much to- 
 gether. For the last two or three years Mark had been a 
 good deal out, but in this his father had encouraged him. 
 
 " I like to see you make your own friends, Mark, and 
 go your own way," he used to say; " it is as bad for a lad 
 to be tied to his father's coat-tail as fo his mother's apron- 
 string. Get fresh ideas and form your own opinions. It 
 will do for you what a public school would have done; 
 make you self-reliant and independent." 
 
 Still, of course, a great portion of his time had been 
 with his father, and they often would ride round the 
 •estate together and talk to the tenants, or walk in the 
 .gardens and forcing-houses. Generally Mark would be 
 'driven by his father to the meet if it took place within 
 reasonable distance, his horse being sent on beforehand 
 hy a groom, while of an evening they would sit in the 
 Mbrary, smoke their long pipes, and talk over politics or 
 ''he American and French wars. 
 
 All this was over. There was but one thing now that 
 lie could do for his father, and that was to revenge his 
 death, and at the thought he rose from his bed impa- 
 tiently and paced up and down the room. He must wait 
 for a week, wait till the funeral was over, and then he 
 would be on Bastow's track. If all other plans failed he 
 iFould spend his time in coaches until at last the villain 
 should try to stop one; but there must be other ways. 
 Could he find no other he would apply for employment 
 £is a Bow Street runner, serve for a year to find out their 
 methods, and acquaint himself with the places where 
 < riminals were harbored. It would be the one object of 
 his life, until he succeeded in laying his hand on Bastow's 
 shoulder. He would not shoot him if he could help it. 
 He should prefer to see him in the dock, to hear the 
 sentence passed on him, and to see it carried out. As to 
 i he treasure, it was not worth a thought till his first duty 
 nas discharged. 
 
 Presently a servant brought him a cup of tea. He 
 <t'rank it mechanically, and then proceeded to dress him- 
 self. Sir Charles Harris would be here soon and the 
 iothers; indeed, he had scarcely finished when he was told 
 ifchat the doctor from Beigate had just arrived, and that 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. Ill 
 
 ihe constable had come up half an hour before. He at 
 once went down to the library, into which the doctor had 
 been shown. 
 
 " You have heard what has happened," he said, as he 
 shook hands silently. " I expect Sir Charles Harris here 
 in half an hour. I suppose you will not go up till then? " 
 No, I think it will be best that no none should go in 
 until he comes. I have been speaking to Simcox; he was 
 going in, but I told him I thought it was better to wait.- 
 I may as well take the opportunity of going upstairs to 
 see Mr. Bastow. I hear that he fainted when he heard 
 the news, and that he is completely prostrate." 
 
 " Two such shocks might well prove fatal to him," 
 Mark said; " he has been weak and ailing for some time." 
 
 " Two shocks? " the doctor repeated interrogatively. 
 
 " Ah, I forgot you had not heard about the affair yes- 
 terday evening: a man fired at us through the window 
 when we were sitting round the fire, before the candle.j 
 were lit. The ball passed between my father's head and 
 Mr. Bastow's; both had a narrow escape; the bullet is 
 imbedded in the mantelpiece. I will have it cut out; it- 
 may be a useful item of evidence some day." 
 
 "But what could have been the man's motive? Your 
 father was universally popular." 
 
 " Except with ill-doers," Mark said. " I ran out and 
 chased the fellow for half a mile, and should have caught 
 him if he had not had a horse waiting for him in a lane, 
 and he got off by the skin of his teeth. I hope that next 
 time I meet him he will not be so lucky. Mr. Bastow 
 was very much shaken, and went to bed soon afterwards. 
 I am not surprised that this second shock should be too 
 much for him. Will you go up and see him? I will 
 speak to Simcox." 
 
 The constable was out in the garden. 
 
 " This is a terrible business, Mr. Thorndyke. I sup- 
 pose, after what you told me, you have your suspicions? " 
 
 " They are not suspicions at all — they are certainties. 
 Did you hear that he tried to shoot my father yesterday 
 evening? " 
 
 " No, sir, I have heard nothing about it." 
 
 Mark repeated the story of the attempt and pursuit. 
 
118 COLONEL THORNDYKE S SECRET. 
 
 "Could you swear to him, Mr. Thorn dyke?'* 
 
 " No, there was not much light left; besides, as I have 
 not seen him for the last eight years, I should certainly 
 not be able to recognize him unless I had time to have 
 a good look at him. Had it only been last night's affair' 
 it might have been anyone; but the shooting through 
 the window was not the act of a thief, but of an assassin, 
 who could only have been influenced by private enmity. 
 I quite see that at present I have no legal evidence against 
 Bastow; I am not even in a position to prove that he is 
 in the country, for it cannot be said that my father's 
 belief that he recognized the voice of the man who said 
 ' Stand and deliver! ' is proof. I doubt if anyone could 
 swear that, when he only heard three words, he was abso- 
 lutely sure that it was the voice of a man he had not seen 
 for some years. However, fortunately, that will make no 
 difference; the man is, as I told you, wanted for his head- 
 ing the mutiny in the convict prison at Sydney, which will 
 be quite sufficient to hang him without this business. 
 But I own that I should prefer that he were hung for 
 my father's murder if we could secure sufficient evidence. 
 Moreover, there is the attack upon us three or four months 
 ago, and with the evidence of the surgeon who attended 
 him as to his wound, that would be enough to hang 
 him. But we have first got to catch him, and that I 
 mean to make my business, however long the search may 
 take me." 
 
 " Was anything taken last night, sir? " 
 
 " I don't know; I did not look. We shall see to that 
 when we. go upstairs. We may as well go indoors now; 
 Sir Charles may be here in a few minutes, arid I want 
 to hear Dr. Holloway's report as to Mr. Bastow." 
 
 " He does not suspect, I hope, sir? " 
 
 " No, thank God; my father never mentioned to him 
 anything he heard about his son, or his suspicions, there- 
 fore he has no reason to believe that the fellow is not 
 still in the convict prison at Sydney. We shall keep it 
 from him now, whatever happens; but it would, for his 
 sake, be best that this shock should prove too much for 
 him. He has had a very hard time of it altogether." 
 
 " He is terribly prostrate," the doctor reported when 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 119 
 
 Mark joined him. " I don't think that he will get oyer 
 it. He is scarcely conscious now. You see, he is an old 
 man, and has no reserve of strength to fall back upon. 
 Your father has been such a good friend to him that it 
 is not surprising the news should have been too much 
 for him. I examined. him at the Squire's request some 
 months ago as to his heart's action, which was so weak 
 that I told the Squire then that he might go off at any 
 time, and I rather wonder that he recovered even tem- 
 porarily from the shock." 
 
 In a few minutes Sir Charles Harris drove up. 
 
 " This is terrible news, my dear Mark," he said, as he 
 leaped from his gig and wrung Mark's hand — " terrible. 
 I don't know when I have had such a shock; he was a 
 noble fellow in all respects, a warm friend, an excellent 
 magistrate, a kind landlord, good all round. I can 
 scarcely believe it yet. A burglar, of course. I suppose 
 he entered the house for the purpose of robbery, when 
 your father awoke and jumped out of bed, there was a 
 tussle, and the scoundrel killed him; at least, that is what 
 I gather from the story that the groom told me." 
 
 " That is near it, Sir Charles, but I firmly believe that 
 robbery was not the object, but murder; for murder was 
 attempted yesterday evening," and he informed the mag- 
 istrate of the shot fired through the window. 
 
 "Bless me, you don't say so!" the magistrate ex- 
 claimed. " That alters the case altogether, and certainly 
 would seem to make the act one of premeditated murder; 
 and yet, surely, the Squire could not have had an enemy. 
 Some of the men whom we have sentenced may have felt a 
 grudge against him, but surely not sufficient to lead them 
 to a crime like this." 
 
 " I will talk of it with you afterwards, Sir Charles. I 
 have the very strongest suspicions, although no absolute 
 proofs. Now, will you first come upstairs? Doctor Hollo- 
 way is here and Simcox, but no one has entered the room 
 since I left it; I thought it better that it should be left 
 undisturbed until you came." 
 
 " Quite so; we will go up at once." 
 
 An examination of the room showed nothing whatever 
 that would afford the slightest clew. The Squire's watch 
 
120 COLONEL THOBNJDTKE'S SECRET 
 
 was still in the watch-pocket at the head of the bed, his 
 purse was on a small table beside him; apparently nothing 
 had been touched in the room. 
 
 " If robbery was the object," Sir Charles said gravely, 
 ■' it has evidently not been carried out, and it is probable 
 that Mr. Thorndyke was partly woke by the opening of 
 the window, and that he was not thoroughly aroused 
 until the man was close to his bed; then he leapt out 
 and seized him. Probably the stab was, as Dr. Holloway 
 assures us, instantly fatal, and he may have fallen so 
 heavily that the man, fearing that the house would be 
 alarmed at the sound, at once fled, without even waiting 
 to snatch up the purse. The whole thing is so clear that 
 /it is scarcely necessary to ask any further questions. Of 
 course, there must be an inquest to-morrow. I should 
 .'.ike when I go down to ask the gardener where he left 
 'the ladder yesterday. Have you examined the ground 
 ' ? or footmarks? " 
 
 " Yes, Sir Charles, but you see it was a pretty hard 
 jfrost last night, and I cannot find any marks at all. The 
 ground must have been like iron about the time when the 
 ladder was placed there." 
 
 The gardener, on being called in, said that the ladder 
 was always hung up outside the shed at the back of the 
 house; there was a chain round it, and he had found that 
 morning that one the links had been filed through. 
 
 " The Squire was most particular about its being 
 locked, as Mr. Mark knows, so that it could not be used 
 by any ill-disposed chaps who might come along at night. 
 'The key of the padlock was always hung on a nail round 
 the other side of the shed. The Squire knew of it, and 
 so did Mr. Mark and me; so that while it was out of the 
 way of the eyes of a thief, any of us could run and get 
 it and undo the padlock in a minute in case of fire or any- 
 thing of that sort. I have not used the ladder, maybe, for 
 a fortnight, but I know that it was hanging in its place 
 yesterday afternoon." 
 
 " I expect the fellow was prowling about here for some 
 time," Mark said. " I was chatting with my father in 
 the library when I thought I heard a noise, and I threw 
 open the window, which had by some carelessness been 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 121 
 
 left a little open, and went out, and listened for nearly 
 an hour, but I could hear nothing, and put it down to 
 the fact that I was nervous owing to what had happened 
 early in the evening, and that the noise was simply fancy, 
 or that the frost had caused a dry branch of one of the 
 shrubs to crack." 
 
 " How was it you did not notice the window was open 
 as you went in?" 
 
 " The curtains were drawn, sir. I glanced at that 
 when I went into the room with my father. After being 
 shot at once from outside, it was possible that we might 
 be again; though I own that I did not for a moment 
 think that the fellow would return after the hot chase 
 that I gave him. I suppose after I went in he looked 
 about and found the ladder; it is likely enough that he 
 would have had a file with him in case he had any bars 
 to cut through to get into the house, but to my mind it 
 is more likely that he knew where to find the ladder with- 
 out any looking for it; it has hung there as long as I can 
 remember." 
 
 " Yes, sir," the gardener said, " I have worked for the 
 Squire ever since he came here, and the ladder was bought 
 a week or two after he took me on, and the Squire set- 
 tled where it should be hung, so that it might be handy 
 either in case of fire or if wanted for a painting job. 
 This aint the first ladder; we got a new one four years 
 ago." 
 
 " It is singular that the man should have known which 
 was the window of your father's room." 
 
 " Very singular," Mark said. 
 
 Shortly after the doctor left, and Mark had a long 
 talk with the magistrate in the library, and told him 
 his reasons for suspecting that the murderer was Arthur 
 Bastow. 
 
 " It certainly looks like it," the magistrate said 
 thoughtfully, after he had heard Mark's story, "though 
 of course it is only a case of strong suspicion, and not 
 of legal proof. Your father's recognition of the voice 
 could have scarcely been accepted as final when he heard 
 but three words, still the whole thing hangs together. 
 The fellow was, I should say, capable of anything. I 
 
122 COLONEL THORNDTEE'S SECRET. 
 
 don't know that I ever had a prisoner before me whose 
 demeanor was so offensive and insolent, and if it can be 
 proved that Bastow is in England I should certainly ac- 
 cept your view of the case. He would probably have 
 known both where the ladder was to be found and which 
 was the window of your father's bedroom." 
 
 " I should certainly think that he would know it, sir. 
 The bedroom was the same that my grandfather used to 
 sleep in, and probably during the years before we came 
 here young Bastow would have often been over the house. 
 The first year or two after we came he was often up 
 here with his father, but I know that my father took 
 such an objection to him, his manner and language were 
 so offensive, that he would not have me, boy as I was — 
 I was only about eleven when he came here — associate 
 with him in the smallest degree. But during those two 
 years he may very well have noticed where the ladder 
 was." 
 
 " Do you intend to say anything about all this to- 
 morrow at the inquest, Mark?" 
 
 "I don't think I shall do so," Mark said moodily. " I 
 am certain of it myself, but I don't think any man would 
 convict him without stronger evidence than I could give. 
 However, that business in Australia will be sufficient to 
 hang him." 
 
 " I think you are right, Mark. Of course, if you do 
 light upon any evidence, we can bring this matter up in 
 another court; if not, there will be no occasion for you 
 to appear in it at all, but leave it altogether for the 
 authorities to prove the Sydney case against him; it will 
 only be necessary for the constables who got up the other 
 case against him to prove his sentence, and for the re- 
 ports of the Governor of the jail to be read. There will 
 be no getting over that, and he will be hung as a matter 
 of course. It will be a terrible thing for his unhappy 
 father." 
 
 " I do not think that he is likely to come to know it, 
 sir; the shock of the affair yesterday and that of this 
 morning have completely prostrated him, and Dr. Hollo- 
 way, who was up with him before you arrived, thinks that 
 there is very little chance of his recovery." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 123 
 
 When the magistrate had left, Mark sent a request to 
 Mrs. Cunningham that she would come down for a few 
 minutes. She joined him in the drawing room. 
 
 " Thank you for coming down/' he said quietly. " I 
 wanted to ask how you were, and how Millicent is." 
 
 " She is terribly upset. You see, the Squire was the 
 only father she had ever known; and had he been really 
 so he could not have been kinder. It is a grievous loss 
 to me also, after ten years of happiness here; but I have 
 had but little time to think of my own loss yet, I have 
 been too occupied in soothing the poor girl. How are 
 you feeling yourself, Mark?" 
 
 " I don't understand myself," he said. " I don't think 
 that anyone could have loved his father better than I 
 have done; but since I broke down when I first went to 
 my room I seem to have no inclination to give way to 
 sorrow. I feel frozen up; my voice does not sound to me 
 as if it were my own; I am able to discuss matters as 
 calmly as if I were speaking of a stranger. The one thing 
 that I feel passionately anxious about is to set out on the 
 track of the assassin." 
 
 " There is nothing unusual in your state of feeling, 
 Mark. Such a thing as this is like a wound in battle; 
 the shock is so great that for a time it numbs all pain. 
 I have heard my husband say that a soldier who has had 
 his arm carried off by a cannon ball will fall from the 
 shock, and when he recovers consciousness will be ignorant 
 where he has been hit. It is so with you; probably the 
 sense of pain and loss will increase every day as you take 
 it in more and more. As for what you say about the mur- 
 derer, it will undoubtedly be a good thing for you to have 
 something to employ your thoughts and engage all your 
 faculties as soon as this is all over. Is there anything 
 that I can do? " 
 
 " No, thank you; the inquest will be held to-morrow. 
 I have sent down to Chatterton to come up this afternoon 
 to make the necessary preparations for the funeral. Let 
 me see, to-day is Wednesday, is it not? I seem to have 
 lost all account of the time." 
 
 " Yes, Wednesday." 
 
 " Then I suppose the funeral will be on Monday or 
 
124 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Tuesday. If there is any message that you want sent 
 down to the town, one of the grooms will carry it when- 
 ever you wish." 
 
 " Thank you; 'tis not worth sending particularly, any 
 time will do, but I shall want to send a note to Mrs. Wil- 
 son presently, asking her to come up the first thing to- 
 morrow morning." '-* 
 
 " He can take it whenever you like, Mrs. Cunningham. 
 I have nothing to send down for, as far as I know. I sup- 
 pose you have heard that the doctor thinks very badly of 
 Mr. Bastow?" 
 
 " Yes. Eamoo is sitting with him now." 
 
 " Then I think, if you will write your note at once, 
 Mrs. Cunningham, I will send one down to Dr. Holloway, 
 asking him to send an experienced nurse. He said he 
 should call again this afternoon, but the sooner a nurse 
 comes the better." 
 
 That afternoon Mark wrote a letter to the family 
 solicitors, telling them of what had taken place, and 
 stating that the funeral would be on the following Tues- 
 day, and asking them to send down a clerk with his 
 father's will, or if one of the partners could manage to 
 come down, he should greatly prefer it, in view of the ex- 
 planations that would be necessary. He had already sent 
 off a letter to the head of the Detective Department, 
 asking him to send down one of his best men as soon as 
 possible. Then he went out into the garden, and walked 
 backwards and forwards for about two hours, and the'n 
 returned to what he thought would be a solitary meal. 
 Mrs. Cunningham, however, came down. She had 
 thoughtfully had the large dining-table pushed on one 
 side, and a small one placed near the fire. 
 
 " I thought it would be more comfortable," she said, 
 " as there are only our two selves, just to sit here." 
 
 He thanked her with a look. It was a nice little din- 
 ner, and Mark, to his surprise, ate it with an appetite. 
 Except the cup of tea that he had taken in the morning, 
 and a glass of wine at midday, he had touched nothing. 
 Mrs. Cunningham was a woman of great tact, and by 
 making him talk of the steps that he intended to take to 
 hunt down the assassin, kept him from thinking. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 125 
 
 " Thank you very much, Mrs. Cunningham," he said, 
 when the dinner was over. " I feel very much better." 
 
 " I have brought down my work," she said, " and will 
 sit here while you drink your wine and smoke a pipe. 
 Millicent has gone to bed, completely worn out, and it 
 will be pleasanter for us both to sit here than to be 
 alone." 
 
 Mark gladly agreed to the proposal. She turned the 
 conversation now to India, and talked of her life there. 
 
 " I was not out there very long," she said. " I was 
 engaged to my husband when he first went out, and six 
 years afterwards joined him there, and we were married. 
 Your uncle, who was a major of his regiment, gave me 
 away. My husband got his company six months after- 
 wards, and was killed three years later. My pension as 
 his widow was not a large one, and when your uncle 
 offered me the charge of his daughter I was very glad to 
 accept it. He gave some idea of his plans for her. I 
 thought they were very foolish, but when I saw that his 
 mind was thoroughly made up I did not attempt to dis- 
 suade him. He said that when he came home to England 
 (and he had no idea when that would be) he should have 
 me here, as head of his establishment, and it would be 
 given out that the child was his ward. I hoped that he 
 would alter his mind later on, but, as you know, he never 
 did." 
 
 " Well, of course, she will have to be told now," Mark 
 said. 
 
 "Do you think so? It seems to me that it were better 
 that she would go as she is, at any rate, until she is 
 twenty-one." 
 
 " That would be quite impossible," Mark said decidedly. 
 " How could I assume the position of master here? And 
 even if I could, it would be a strange thing indeed for 
 me to be here with a girl the age of my cousin, even with 
 you as chaperon. You must see yourself that it would 
 be quite impossible." 
 
 " But how could she live here by herself?" 
 
 " I don't think she could live here by herself," Mark 
 said, " especially after what has happened. Of course, it 
 has all got to be talked over, but my idea is that the place 
 
126 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 had better be shut up, and that you should take, in your 
 own name, a house in London. I suppose she will want 
 masters for the harp, and so on. For a time, at any rate, 
 that would be the best plan, unless you would prefer 
 some other place to London. We have done our best to 
 carry out my uncle's wishes, but circumstances have been 
 too strong for us, and it cannot be kept up any longer; 
 but there is no reason, if you and she prefer it, why she 
 should not be known, until you return here, by her pres- 
 ent name. Of course the affair will create a great deal 
 of talk down here, but in London no one will know that 
 Millicent is an heiress, though it is hardly likely that you 
 will make many acquaintances for a time." 
 
 " Have you known it long, Mark? I thought that you 
 were kept in ignorance of it." 
 
 " I only heard it yesterday evening, Mrs. Cunningham; 
 after that shot through the window my father thought I 
 ought to know all about it, for the attempt might be re- 
 peated more successfully. He told me all about her, and 
 about the treasure." 
 
 "What treasure?" Mrs. Cunningham said. "I don't 
 know what you mean." 
 
 He then told her of the story his uncle had related, and 
 how he had been prevented from giving full instructions 
 for its discovery, the only clew being a gold coin and the 
 word Masulipatam, and that this treasure had been left 
 equally divided between him and Millicent by his will. 
 
 " He told me that he should provide for you," Mrs. 
 Cunningham remarked, " when 1 said that it would be 
 unfair that you should be brought up believing yourself 
 the heir. I never heard any more about it, but I am glad 
 that it is so." 
 
 " I fancy the chance of its coming to either of us is 
 very small," Mark said; " a- coin and a word are not much 
 to go upon. I have not the most remote idea what they 
 mean, and whether the treasure is in England or in India. 
 Heaven only knows." 
 
 " Possibly, when he made the will, he may have told 
 the solicitors where it was, and instructed them to keep 
 it secret until the time that Millicent came into possession 
 of the estate." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 127 
 
 "It is just possible he did so, Mrs. Cunningham, but 
 the efforts he made to speak at the last moment would 
 almost seem to show that he had not told them, for, if 
 he had, the matter would have been of no vital importance 
 one way or the other. Will Millicent be well enough to 
 come down in the morning?" 
 
 " I hope so." 
 
 " I hope so, too; but, at any rate, keep her up in her 
 room till the afternoon. The inquest will be at eleven 
 o'clock, and it is better that she should not come down 
 until everyone has gone away." 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Directly after breakfast was over the next morning 
 the Kector came in. 
 
 " I would not come in yesterday, Mark," he said. " I 
 knew that you would be best alone; and, indeed, I was 
 myself so terribly upset by the news that I did not feel 
 equal to it. I need not say how deeply I and my wife 
 . sympathize with you. Never did a kinder heart beat than 
 your father's; never have I seen people so universally 
 grieved as they are in the village. I doubt whether a 
 man went to work yesterday, and as for the women, had 
 it been a father they had lost they could not be more 
 affected." 
 
 " Yes, he will be greatly missed," Mark said unsteadily; 
 " and, between ourselves — but this must go no further — - 
 I have a suspicion, amounting almost to a certainty, that 
 the hand that dealt this blow is the same that caused the 
 vacancy that brought you here." 
 
 "Do you mean Arthur Bastow?" Mr. Greg said in 
 amazement. " Why, I thought that he was transported 
 for fifteen years." 
 
 Then Mark told the Eector the inner history of the 
 past sis months, and of the report they had had from 
 the officer at Bow Street of the personal appearance of the 
 wounded man. 
 
 " Other things are in favor of it," he went on. " My 
 father's watch and purse were untouched, and a stranger 
 on a dark night would be hardly likely to have discovered 
 the ladder, or to have had a file in his pocket with which 
 to cut through a link, though this might have been part 
 of the apparatus of any burglar. Then, again, an ordinary 
 man would hardly have known which was my father's bed- 
 Toom, except, indeed, that he saw the light there after 
 those in the ladies' rooms were extinguished; but, at any 
 rate, he could not have told which was my father's and 
 
 128 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 129 
 
 which was mine. But all this is, as I said, Mr. Greg, quite 
 between ourselves. I had a long talk yesterday with Sir 
 Charles Harris, and, as he said, there is no legal proof 
 whatever, strong as the suspicion is; so I am going to say 
 nothing on the subject at the inquest. The scoundrel's 
 poor father is dying, happily in ignorance of all this. Dr. 
 Holloway was up with him all night, and told me this 
 morning before he drove off that it is very unlikely that he 
 will get through the day." 
 
 " It is all very terrible, Mark; but I cannot deny that 
 everything points to the man. Surely no one else could 
 have cut short so useful a life, for certainly no ordinary 
 degree of hatred would drive a man, however brutal his 
 nature, to commit such a crime, and to run the risk of 
 hanging for it. Let us take a brisk walk in the garden 
 for an hour — that will be the best thing for you. I will 
 stop with you until the inquest is over, and then you had 
 better come over and have lunch with us." 
 
 " Thank you; I cannot do so," Mark said, " though I 
 should like to. In the first place, Millicent will come 
 downstairs this afternoon, and I should like to be in to 
 meet her. Had it not been for that I might have come, as 
 I can walk across the fields to the Kectory without passing 
 through the village. There is another reason. I sent up 
 yesterday by the coach a letter to be delivered at once by 
 hand, and I expect a detective down here by one o'clock. 
 I don't know that he will do any good; but at the same 
 time it will give me something to do, and at present there 
 is nothing I dread so much as sitting alone. Fortunately, 
 yesterday evening Millicent went to bed at five o'clock, 
 and Mrs. Cunningham sat with me all the evening, and her 
 talk did me a great deal of good." 
 
 The inquest occupied a very short time, the only point 
 on which many questions were asked being as to the firing 
 through the window. Mark stated that it was already so 
 dark that although he was within fifty yards of the man 
 when he mounted and rode off, he could not give any very 
 distinct description of his figure. It struck him as being 
 that of a man of medium height. 
 
 " You have made out that the bullet was intended for 
 your father? " 
 
130 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 "I cannot say that, sir, it went between his head and 
 that of Mr. Bastow, but it might have been meant for 
 either." 
 
 " Was your father impressed with the idea that it was 
 an attempt to murder him? " 
 
 " He naturally thought so. Mr. Bastow can assuredly 
 have no enemies, while my father, as a magistrate, may 
 have made some. He certainly thought it was an attempt 
 to murder him, and was so impressed by the fact that 
 when we went to the library later on he went into certain 
 family matters with me that he had never communicated 
 before, and which, had it not been for this, he would not 
 have entered into for some years to come." 
 
 " He had his opinion, then, as to who was his assail- 
 ant?" 
 
 " He had, sir, but as it was but an opinion, although 
 there were several facts that seemed to justify the con- 
 viction, there was no proof whatever, and therefore I do 
 not think myself justified in saying what that opinion 
 was." 
 
 " Do you entertain the same opinion yourself? " 
 
 " I do," Mark said emphatically; " but until I can obtain 
 some evidence in support of what is really but a matter of 
 opinion, and because, were I to give the name, it would 
 lessen my chance of obtaining such evidence, I decline to 
 mention the name." 
 
 " You have no doubt that the author of the second 
 attempt is the same as that of the first? " 
 
 " Personally, I have no doubt whatever; it stands to rea- 
 son that it is barely possible that two men could have, 
 unknown to each other, made up their minds to murder 
 my father on the same evening." 
 
 The constable's evidence added nothing to that given by 
 Mark. He had been down to the lane where the man pur- 
 sued had mounted. The reins of the horse had apparently 
 been thrown over a gatepost, and he thought it had been 
 standing there for some little time, for there were marks 
 where it had scraped the ground repeatedly. He had 
 followed the marks of its hoofs for some distance; if had 
 gone at a gallop for about half a mile, and then the pace 
 had slackened into a trot. It continued until the lane fell 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 131 
 
 into the main road, but beyond this he had been unable to 
 distinguish it from the marks of the traffic in general. 
 
 " You found no footprints whatever near the foot of the 
 ladder, or anywhere else round the house? " 
 
 " None whatever, sir." 
 
 " There were no signs of any other window or door save 
 that of Mr. Thorndyke's room being attempted? " 
 
 " None at all, sir." 
 
 There was but a short consultation between the jurors, 
 who at once returned a verdict of " Willful murder by 
 some person or persons unknown." 
 
 Dr. Holloway had, after giving evidence, returned at 
 once to Mr. Bastow's room. The only point of importance 
 in his evidence was the statement that the wound must 
 have been fatal at once, the heart itself having been pene- 
 trated. It had been inflicted by a dagger or a narrow- 
 bladed knife. 
 
 " Do you mean that it was an unusually small dagger, 
 Dr. Holloway?" 
 
 " I should say it was a very fine dagger; not the sort of 
 weapon that you would expect to find a highwayman carry, 
 if he carried one at all, but rather a weapon of Spanish or 
 Italian manufacture." 
 
 " Not the sort of wound that a rapier would make? " 
 
 " Yes, the wound itself might have been very well made 
 by a light rapier, but there was a slight bruise on the flesh 
 on each side of the wound, such a mark as might be made 
 by the handle or guard of a dagger, and sufficiently plain 
 to leave no doubt in my mind that it was so made." 
 
 " Had the wound a downward course, or was it a straight 
 thrust?" 
 
 " A straight thrust," the doctor replied. " My idea is 
 that the two men were grappling together, and that as Mr. 
 Thorn dyke was a very powerful man, his assailant, who 
 probably was approaching the bed with the dagger in his 
 hand, plunged it into him: had he struck at him I should 
 certainly have expected the course of the wound to be 
 downward, as I fancy a man very seldom thrusts straight 
 with a dagger, as he would do with a rapier." 
 
 When the inquest was over, Mark, going out into the 
 hall, found the doctor waiting there for him. 
 
132 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " Mr. Bastow breathed his last some ten minutes ago. 
 I saw when I went up to him just before I gave my evi- 
 dence that it was likely that he would die before I returned 
 to the room." 
 
 " I am very sorry," Mark said, " although I expected 
 nothing else from what you told me. He was a very kind- 
 hearted man; no one could have had a kinder or more 
 patient tutor than he was to me, while my father regarded 
 him as a very dear and valued friend. I am expecting the 
 undertaker here in a few minutes, and they can both be 
 buried at the same time." 
 
 It was late in the afternoon before Millicent came down 
 with Mrs. Cunningham. The news of Mr. Bastow' s death 
 had set her tears flowing afresh; she had been very fond of 
 him, and that he and the Squire should have been taken at 
 once seemed almost beyond belief. She had, however, 
 nerved herself to some degree of composure before she 
 went down to meet Mark; but although she returned the 
 pressure of his hand, she was unable for some time to 
 speak. Mrs. Cunningham thought it best to speak first oi 
 the minor grief. 
 
 " So Mr. Bastow has gone, Mark? " 
 
 " Yes, Dr. Holloway thought very badly of him yester- 
 day, and said that he had but very faint hope of his rally- 
 ing. I cannot help thinking that it was best so. Of 
 course, he was not a very old man, but he has for some 
 years been a very feeble one, and now that Millicent and I 
 have both given up our studies with him, I think that he 
 would have felt that his work was done, and would have 
 gone downhill very fast." 
 
 " I think so, too," Mrs. Cunningham agreed. " I am 
 sure that even had the Squire's death come quietly, in the 
 course of nature, it would have been a terrible blow to 
 him. He was fond of you and Millicent, but his affection 
 for your father was a passion; his face always lit up when 
 he spoke to him. I used to think sometimes that it was 
 like an old dog with his master. It was quite touching to 
 see them together. I think, Mark, with you, that it is 
 best that it should be as it is." 
 
 Gradually the conversation turned to other matters. 
 Millicent was, however, unable to take any part in it, and 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 133 
 
 half an hour later she held out her hand silently to Mark 
 and left the room hurriedly. The next day she was better, 
 and was able to walk for a time with Mark in the garden 
 and talk more calmly about their mutual loss, for to her, 
 no less than to Mark, the Squire had been a father. 
 
 " 'Tis strange to think that you are the Squire now, 
 Mark," she said as they sat together in the dining room on 
 the evening before the funeral. 
 
 " You will think it stranger still, Millicent," he said, 
 " when I tell you that I am not the Squire, and never shall 
 be." 
 
 She looked up in his face with wonder. 
 
 " What do you mean, Mark? " 
 
 " Well, dear, you will know to-morrow, as Mr. Prender- 
 gast, one of the family solicitor is coming down; but I 
 think it is as well to tell you beforehand. It has been a 
 curious position all along. I never knew it myself till my 
 father told me when we went into the library after the 
 shot was fired. The news did not affect me one way or the 
 other, although it surprised me a great deal. Like your- 
 self, I have always supposed that you were my father's 
 ward, the daughter of an old comrade of his brother's. 
 Well, it is a curious story, Millicent. But there is no 
 occasion for you to look frightened. The fact is you are 
 my uncle's daughter and my cousin." 
 
 " Oh, that is not very dreadful! " she exclaimed in a 
 tone of relief. 
 
 " Not dreadful at all," Mark said. " But you see it 
 involves the fact that you are mistress of this estate, and 
 not I." 
 
 Millicent stood up suddenly with a little cry. 
 
 " No, no, Mark, it cannot be! It would be dreadful, and 
 I won't have it. Nothing could make me have it. What, 
 to take the estate away from you when you have all along 
 supposed it to be yours! How could I? " 
 
 " But you see it never has been mine, my dear. Father 
 might have lived another nve-and-twenty years, and God 
 knows I have never looked forward to succeeding him. 
 Sit down and let me tell you the story. It was not my 
 father's fault that he reigned here so long as master; it 
 was the result of a whim of your father's. And although 
 
134 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 my father fought against it, he could not resist the dying 
 prayer of my uncle." . 
 
 He then related the whole circumstances under which 
 the girl had heen brought up as Millicent Conyers, instead 
 of Millicent Conyers Thorndyke, and how the estate had 
 been left by Colonel Thorndyke's will to his brother until 
 such time as Millicent should come of age, or marry, and 
 how he had ordered that when that event took place the 
 rest of his property in money and jewels was to be divided 
 equally between Mark and herself. 
 
 " It must not be, Mark," she said firmly. " You must 
 take the estate, and we can divide the rest between us. 
 What is the rest?" 
 
 " To begin with," Mark said cheerfully, " there are 
 £25,000, the accumulations of the rents of the estate after 
 the death of my grandfather up to the time when the 
 Colonel returned from India; and there are, besides, a few 
 thousands, though I don't exactly know how many, that 
 my father paid over to the solicitors as the surplus of the 
 rents of the estates after paying all expenses of keeping 
 up this house. He very properly considered that although 
 he had accepted the situation at your father's earnest 
 wish, he ought not to make money by doing so. If we put 
 it down at £30,000 altogether, you see there is £15,000 for 
 each of us. A very nice sum for a young man to start life 
 with, especially as I shall have my father's estate near 
 Hastings, which brings in £500 a year; and as the rents of 
 this have been accumulating for the last ten years, my 
 share will be raised from £15,000 to £20,000. Besides 
 this, there is the main bulk of the Colonel's fortune made 
 in India. That seems to be worth about £100,000, but I 
 must own that the chance of getting it seems very small." 
 
 "How is that, Mark?" 
 
 Mark told her the whole story. 
 
 " I mean to make it my business to follow the matter 
 up," he said. " I think that the chance of ever finding 
 it is very small. Still, it will give me an object to begin 
 life with." 
 
 " Oh, I hope that you will never find it! " she exclaimed. 
 " From what you say it will be a terrible danger if you do 
 get it." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 135 
 
 Mark smiled. 
 
 " I hardly think so, Millicent. I cannot believe that 
 people would be following up this thing for over fifteen 
 years, for it was many years before the Colonel came home 
 that he got possession of these diamonds. Even Hindoos 
 would, I think, have got sick of such a hopeless affair long 
 before this; but as they may ever since your father's death 
 have been watching us, although it hardly seems possible, 
 I shall follow out the Colonel's instructions, and get rid 
 of those particular diamonds at once. I shall only keep 
 them about me long enough to take them to Amsterdam, 
 and sell them there. The Colonel said they were the 
 finest diamonds that he ever saw, and that he really had 
 no idea of what they were worth. However, that is for 
 the future." 
 
 " Mrs. Cunningham has known this all along, Mark ? " 
 
 " Not about the money affairs, but of course she knew 
 that you were my cousin. She brought you from India, 
 you see, and has known all along that the Colonel was 
 your father. She knows it, and the family solicitors know 
 it, but I believe no one else, except, perhaps, Eamoo. I 
 am not sure whether he was in uncle's service when you 
 were sent over in Mrs. Cunningham's charge. He may 
 know it or he may not, but certainly no one else does, 
 except, as I say, the solicitors and myself. Possibly some 
 other of the Colonel's old comrades knew that there was a 
 child born; but if they were in England and happened to 
 hear that my father had succeeded to the estate, they 
 would, of course, suppose that the child had died." 
 
 " Then," Millicent said, in a tone of relief, " there can 
 be no reason why anyone else should know anything about 
 it. I will see Mr. Prendergast when he comes down to- 
 morrow, and beg him to say nothing about it; £15,000 is 
 quite enough for any girl; and besides, you say that my 
 father's greatest wish was tbat I was not to be married for 
 money, and after all the pains that have been taken, his 
 wish will not be carried out if I am to be made owner of 
 the estate." 
 
 " You won't be able to persuade Mr. Prendergast to do 
 that," Mark said, cmiling. " It is bis duty simply to carry 
 out the provisions of your father's will, and to place you 
 
136 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 in possession of the estate; and if he would keep silence, 
 which he certainly won't, you don't suppose that I would." 
 
 " Then I shall hate you, Mark." 
 
 " I don't think you will, Millicent, and I would rather 
 that you did that than that you should despise me. At the 
 present moment you may think that this estate would be 
 only a burden to you, but some day when you marry you 
 might see the matter in a different light." 
 
 The girl looked at him reproachfully. 
 
 "I should never think so!" she burst out. "What 
 would you have me do? Live here in this great house, 
 with only Mrs. Cunningham, while you are going about the 
 world seeking for this treasure? Never! " 
 
 " No, I don't think that it would be nice for you to do 
 that, Millicent," Mark said. " Mrs. Cunningham and I 
 have been talking it over. We thought that the best plan 
 would be for her to take a house in London, and go there 
 with you; you would have the advantages of good masters. 
 Then you were saying only a short time since that you 
 would like to learn the harp and take lessons in painting. 
 There would be time enough to think about what you 
 would do with respect to this house afterward." 
 
 " It is all horrible," Millicent said, bursting into tears, 
 " and I shall always feel that I have robbed you." 
 
 " But I don't feel so in the least," Mark urged. " I was 
 not in the smallest degree put out when my father told 
 me about it. I have always had a fancy for wandering 
 about the world, as my uncle did, and doing something to 
 distinguish myself, instead of settling down for life to be 
 a country magistrate and a squire. Of course it came as a 
 surprise, but I can assure you that it was not an altogether 
 unpleasant one. What can a man want more than a nice 
 little estate of £500 a year and £20,000 in money? " 
 
 " It is all very well to say that, but as you said to me 
 just now, you may see it in a different light some day." 
 Then she sat thinking for some time. " At any rate," 
 she went on at last, " I don't see why anyone should know 
 about it now. If the house is to be shut up and you are 
 going away, why need anyone know anything about it? 
 My father's wish was that I should not have people making 
 love to me just because I was an heiress; after all that has 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 137 
 
 been done, it would be wicked to go against his wishes. I • 
 suppose the interest of this £15,000 would be enough for 
 Mrs. Cunningham and I to live comfortably on in 
 London? " 
 
 " Yes," Mark said; " it will, at 5 per cent., bring in, 
 £750 a year." 
 
 " Then I shall remain Millicent Conyers to the world. 
 There is nothing to prevent that, is there ? " she said 
 almost defiantly. 
 
 "No," he replied thoughtfully. "The rents of this 
 estate might accumulate. I suppose the solicitors would 
 see after that; and as I shall be away it will, of course, 
 make no difference to me. Were I to stay in the neighbor- 
 hood I could not consent to live as my father did, in a 
 false position; but even then I might give out that the 
 property had only been left to my father during his life- 
 time, and that it had now gone elsewhere, without saying 
 whom it had gone to. However, as I shall be away, there 
 will be no occasion even for that. When the will is read 
 there will be no one present but ourselves, and I don't see 
 why its contents should not be kept a secret for a time; at 
 any rate, we can ask Mr. Prendergast's opinion upon that 
 subject." 
 
 At this moment Mrs. Cunningham coming into the 
 room, Millicent ran to her and threw her arms round her 
 neck. 
 
 " He has made me most miserable," she said. " I 
 thought I could not have been more miserable than I was 
 before he told me all about it." 
 
 " I knew that he was going to do so, and I was quite 
 sure that you would not be pleased at the news. I have all 
 along thought that it was a mistake on the part of your 
 father; but as it was his decision, and not mine, I only had 
 to carry out his wishes." 
 
 " It is cruel," Millicent sobbed. " I don't mean it is 
 cruel of my father; of course he could not have known, 
 and he thought he was doing the best thing for my happi- 
 ness, but it has all turned out wrong." 
 
 " For the present you may think so, dear; but you must 
 remember that up to the present time it has turned out 
 well. I know that your uncle did not like it at first, but I 
 
138 COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S 8ECBET- 
 
 think that he passed ten happy years here. It gave 
 him a great power for doing good, and he worthily availed 
 himself of it. We have all spent a happy time; he was 
 universally liked and respected. I think all of us have 
 benefited by it. It would not have been half as pleasant 
 if it had been known that you, my child, were the real 
 owner of the estate, and he was acting merely as your 
 guardian. Let us hope that everything will turn out as 
 well in future. Colonel Thorndyke told me that he had 
 left a considerable sum in addition to the estates, and that 
 this was to be divided between you and Mark; so you see 
 your cousin will not go out into the world a beggar." 
 
 " It is most of it lost," Millicent said with an hysterical 
 laugh. " It is all hidden away, and no one can find it; 
 everything has gone wrong together." 
 
 " Well, I think, dear, that you had better go up to bed. 
 I will go with you. At the present time this, of course, 
 has come upon you as an additional shock. I would gladly 
 have shielded you from it for a time if I could have done 
 so, but you must have learned it to-morrow, and I quite 
 agree with Mark that is was better that he should tell you 
 this evening. I sent down to the town to-day to the doc- 
 tor's and asked him to send me up a soothing draught, 
 thinking that you might be upset by the news. I hope by 
 the morning you will be able to look at matters more 
 calmly." 
 
 Some time later Mrs. Cunningham came down again. 
 
 " She has cried herself to sleep," she said. " She is 
 much grieved about this money being lost." 
 
 " It is annoying; still I cannot help thinking that the 
 Colonel must have taken some such precaution to prevent 
 the treasure from being lost." 
 
 " One would certainly think so," Mrs. Cunningham 
 agreed; " the Colonel seemed to me a methodical man. I 
 know that he had the reputation of being one of the most 
 Ijarticular men in the service as to all petty details. His 
 instructions to me before I left him were all very minute, 
 and he gave me a sealed packet which he told me contained 
 instructions and a copy of the register of his marriage and 
 of Millicent's birth, and he said that in case of his death I 
 was to take it to your father. He said that there was a 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 139 
 
 letter inclosed in it to him, and also a copy of his will. 
 The letter was directed to your father, and not to me. I 
 handed it over to him when he asked me to come here. He 
 told me afterwards that the letter contained the request 
 that his brother lived to make personally to him — that the 
 child should be brought up as his ward; and that he had 
 Landed the certificates to a lawyer, who had, however, re- 
 ceived copies of them from the Colonel himself before he 
 went down to see your father. So, as he took these pre- 
 cautions to insure his wishes being carried out in the event 
 of his sudden death, I should think that he must have 
 done something of the sort with regard to this treasure." 
 
 " I should think that extremely likely, Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham. I certainly had not thought of that before, and I 
 hope that for Millieent's sake and my own it may turn out 
 to be so. I can get on extremely well without it, but at 
 the same time I don't pretend that £50,000 are to be 
 despised." 
 
 The next morning Mr. Prendergast, who had arrived at 
 Eeigate late the evening before, and had put up at an inn, 
 came up to the house an hour before the time named for 
 the funeral. He learned from Mark that he had already 
 acquainted Millicent with her change of circumstances. A 
 few minutes after he arrived, a servant told him that Miss 
 Conyers would be glad if he would see her alone for a few 
 minutes in the drawing room. Mark had already pre- 
 pared him for her request. 
 
 " Mark has told you that he told me about this hateful 
 thing last night, I suppose, Mr. Prendergast? " 
 
 " He has," the old lawyer said kindly; " and he tells me 
 also that you are not at all pleased at the news." 
 
 "Pleased! I should think not, Mr. Prendergast," she 
 said indignantly. " I am not going to rob my cousin of 
 what he has always been taught to think as his inherit- 
 ance. It is abominable, I call it, and most unnatural." 
 
 " But, my dear young lady, it is yours, and not his. I 
 do not wish to discuss whether the arrangement was nlto- 
 gether a wise one, but I think that so far it has turned out 
 v. ( •!! for all parties. Your estate has profited greatly by 
 nanagement of your uncle, the tenants and all con- 
 v ■■ '} with it have benefited greatly, he himself has had 
 
140 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 active employment afforded him, of which he was fond. 
 Your cousin has, I believe, enjoyed the advantages of the 
 position, and has become acquainted with the best people 
 in this part of the country, and will now obtain the benefit 
 of something like £15,000 — a comfortable little sum, 
 especially as he inherits, I believe, his father's property 
 in Sussex. You yourself will have obtained what I cannot 
 but consider the advantage of having been brought up 
 without knowing that you were an heiress, and therefore 
 without being spoiled, which is, in my opinion, the case 
 with many young ladies in such a condition; therefore I 
 cannot but think that, if unwise in its conception, the 
 matter has so far worked out well. I am bound to say 
 that Mr. Mark Thorndyke has been speaking to me very 
 handsomely on the subject, and that he appears in no way 
 disappointed at finding that you are the heiress of the 
 estate, and is really concerned only at your unwillingness 
 to accept the situation." 
 
 " I wanted to know, Mr. Prendergast," she said, but in a 
 tone that showed she was convinced by his manner that 
 her request would be refused, " if you could arrange so 
 that things would not be disturbed, and he should come 
 into possession as his father's heir in the natural way." 
 
 " But you see he is not his father's heir, Miss Thorn- 
 dyke. His father only had the use, as we call it, of the 
 property until you came of age, or marriage; it was not 
 necessary for it to come to you on your coming of age, but 
 only, as your father explained to me, in the event of your 
 marriage; that is to say, it was not to become public that 
 you were entitled to the estate until your marriage. If you 
 married before you were twenty-one the property was 
 then to come to you. If you did not your were to be 
 informed of the circumstances or not, as Mr. Thorndyke 
 might decide was best, but you were not to come into the 
 property until you married. Your cousin was also to be 
 informed when you came to the age of twenty-one, and as 
 at that time he was to take his half-share of the remain- 
 der of the property, he would then be able to arrange his 
 life as he liked. If your uncle died, as unfortunately he 
 has done, before you reached the age of twenty-one, you 
 would then be placed in your proper position; but your 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 141 
 
 father desired us to say te you that it was his wish, that if 
 it could be arranged, your having succeeded to the owner- 
 ship should not be publicly known until you divulged it to 
 your husband after marriage. The other portions of the 
 will must be carried out. This being only a request, you 
 are at liberty to follow it or not as you may choose." 
 
 " Certainly I should choose," the girl said. " After all 
 this trouble to prevent my being run after as an heiress, 
 it would be wicked to upset it all and to fly in the face of 
 his wishes by setting up as mistress of this estate. Still 
 you understand, Mr. Prendergast, that I don't mean to 
 take it." 
 
 The lawyer smiled indulgently. 
 
 " There is one way in which it might be managed," he 
 said. " Perhaps you can guess what it is ? " 
 
 A flush of color rose over the girl's face. 
 
 " Don't say it, I beg of you, .Mr. Prendergast. Mrs. 
 Cunningham hinted at it this morning, and I told her that 
 my own wish entirely agreed with that of my father, and 
 that I was determined not to be married for money; and I 
 am quite sure that Mark would be as unwilling as I am 
 that the estate should change hands in that way. No, Mr. 
 Prendergast, you must find some other way of doing it 
 than that. Surely an estate cannot be forced upon any- 
 one who is determined not to take it." 
 
 " Well, we must think it over," Mr. Prendergast said 
 quietly. " And now I think that it is time for me to join 
 the others." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 The funeral of Squire Thorndyke and Mr. Bastow 
 was over, and all agreed they had never seen a more affect- 
 ing spectacle than that at the churchyard when the two 
 coffins were Drought in. The distance was short, and the 
 tenants had requested leave to carry the Squire's bier, 
 while that of Mr. Bastow was borne by the villagers who 
 had known and loved him. Behind followed all the magis- 
 trates and a great number of the gentry for miles round; 
 the churchyard was crowded by every man, woman, and 
 child in the village, and the women, as well as many of the 
 men, wept unrestrainedly as the coffins passed by. Besides 
 these, a large number of people from Reigate and the 
 surrounding villages were present, attracted rather by the 
 crime that had caused the death than by the loss of the 
 Squire himself. The church was crowded, and it was with 
 difficulty that Mr. Greg read the service. The Squire was 
 laid by the <ude of his father, Mr. Bastow in the spot where 
 many of his predecessors had slept before him. 
 
 Mark had been greatly affected, not only by his own loss, 
 but by the sight of the general grief among those for 
 whom the Squire had done so much. Even Mr. Prender- 
 gast, who had taken part in many such functions over 
 departed clients, was much moved by the scene. 
 
 " I have been at many funerals/' he said to Mark as they 
 walked back to the Hall, " but I never have been at one 
 that so affected me. No monument ever raised, sir, did 
 such credit to him who was laid beneath it as the tears of 
 those simple villagers." 
 
 Mark did not reply; his heart was altogether too full to 
 speak. As they entered the house he said, " The ladies 
 will have their lunch upstairs, Mr. Prendergast; we may as 
 well have ours at once, and then you can call them down if 
 there is any business to be done/' 
 
 " That will not take long," the lawyer said. " I have 
 
 142 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 143 
 
 brought down the wills of both your uncle the Colonel, and 
 your father, and I think that it would be as well for me to 
 read them both. That of your father is a very short and 
 simple document, extending, indeed, only over a few lines. 
 Your uncle's is longer and more complicated, but as you 
 are well aware of the gist of it, it will take us but a short 
 time to get through it." 
 
 Mark took his meal in a perfunctory manner. For him- 
 self he would have eaten nothing, but he made an effort to 
 do so in order to keep his guest company. When it was 
 over he said: 
 
 " We may as well go into the library at once, and I will 
 send up for the ladies. It is as well to lose no time, for I 
 know that you want to catch the afternoon coach up to 
 town." 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham and Millicent joined them in a min- 
 ute or two, the girl looking very pale in her deep mourn- 
 ing. 
 
 " I am about," Mr. Prendergast said quietly, " to read 
 the wills of Colonel Thorndyke and Mr. John Thorndyke, 
 and I will ask you, if there is any phrase that you do not 
 understand, to stop me, and I will explain to you its pur- 
 port." 
 
 The three persons present were acquainted with the 
 main provisions of the Colonel's will. It began by stating 
 that, being determined that his daughter, Millicent Con- 
 yers Thorndyke, should not be married for her money, he 
 hereby bequeathed to his brother, John Thorndyke, his 
 estate in the parish of Crowswood, to be held by him until 
 his daughter Millicent came to the age of twenty-one, or 
 was married; if that marriage did not take place until she 
 was over the age of twenty-one, so long was it to continue 
 in John Thorndyke's possession, save and except that she 
 was, on attaining the age of twenty-one, to receive from it 
 an income of £250 a year for her private use and disposal. 
 
 " To Jane Cunningham, the widow of the late Captain 
 Charles Cunningham, of the 10th Madras Native Infantry, 
 should she remain with my daughter until the marriage of 
 the latter, I bequeath an annuity of £150 per annum, 
 chargeable on the estate, and to commence at my daugh- 
 ter's marriage. All my other property in moneys, invest- 
 
144 COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 
 
 ments, jewels, and chattels of all sorts, is to be divided in 
 equal portions between my daughter, Millicent Conyers 
 Thorndyke, and my nephew, Mark Thorndyke. Should, 
 however, my daughter die before marriage, I bequeath the 
 said estate in the parish of Crowswood to my brother, 
 John Thorndyke, for his life, and after him to his son 
 Mark, and to the latter the whole of my other property of 
 all kinds, this to take effect on the death of my daughter. 
 Should my brother predecease the marriage or coming of 
 age of my daughter, she is at once to come into possession 
 of the said estate of Crowswood. In which case my 
 nephew Mark and Mr. James Prendergast, of the firm of 
 Hopwood & Prendergast, my solicitors, are to act as her 
 trustees, and Mrs. Jane Cunningham and the said James 
 Prendergast as her guardians." 
 
 All this was, of course, expressed in the usual legal 
 language, but the purport was clear to those previously 
 acquainted with its bearing, the only item that was new to 
 them being the legacy to Mrs. Cunningham. John Thorn- 
 dyke's testament was a short one. He left all his prop- 
 erty to his son Mark, with the exception of a hundred 
 pounds to his niece to buy a mourning ring or brooch or 
 other ornament in memory of him, and fifty pounds to 
 Mrs. Cunningham for a similar purpose, as a token of his 
 great esteem for her character, and £200 to Eamoo for his 
 faithful services to his brother and himself. 
 
 When the lawyer had folded up the wills Millicent said: 
 
 " On my part, I have to say that I absolutely renounce 
 the legacy of the estate in favor of my cousin Mark, who 
 has always believed that it would be his." 
 
 " And I as absolutely refuse to accept the sacrifice," 
 Mark said. 
 
 " My dear young lady," Mr. Prendergast said quietly, 
 " at present, at any rate, you have no power whatever to 
 take any action in the matter; you are, in the eye of the 
 law, an infant, and until you come of age you have no 
 power to execute any legal document whatever. There- 
 fore you must perforce remain mistress of the estate until 
 you attain the age of twenty-one. Many things may 
 happen before that time; for example, you might marry, 
 and in that case your husband would have a voice in the 
 
COLONEL THOBNDTKE'S SECRET. 145 
 
 matter; you might die, in which case Mr. Mark Thorndyke 
 would, without any effort on your part, come into posses- 
 sion of the estate. But, at any rate, until you reach the 
 age of twenty-one your trustees will collect the rents of 
 the estate on your behalf, and will hold the monies in trust 
 for you, making, of course, such payments for your sup- 
 port and maintenance as are fit and proper for your con- 
 dition." 
 
 The tears came into Millicent's eyes as she resumed the 
 seat from which she had risen, and she did not utter 
 another word until Mr. Pendergast rose to leave. 
 
 " I shall doubtless learn your wishes as to the future, 
 Miss Thorndyke, from your cousin," he said. " I hope 
 that you will not cherish any malice against me, and that 
 when you think it over you will come to the conclusion 
 that second thoughts are sometimes the wisest, and also 
 that you should have some consideration for your father's 
 wishes in a matter of this kind.. He worked hard and 
 risked his life to build up the fortune that he has left. 
 He evidently thought greatly of your welfare, and was, 
 above all things, anxious to insure your happiness. I am 
 sure that on thinking it over you will see that you should 
 not thwart his wishes." 
 
 " My dear boy," he said to Mark, as they stood on the 
 doorstep waiting for the carriage to come round, " the 
 best plan by far in this business would be for the interests 
 of your cousin and yourself to be identical. She is a very 
 charming young lady, a little headstrong in this matter, 
 perhaps, but I do not think that that is altogether un- 
 natural." 
 
 " That might have come about if it had not been for the 
 property, Mr. Prendergast," Mark said, " but it cannot be 
 now. If she and I had been engaged before all this hap- 
 pened the case would have been different; but you see 
 yourself that now my lips are sealed, for it would seem as 
 if I had not cared for her until she turned out to be an 
 heiress." 
 
 " You are a silly young couple," the lawyer said. " I 
 can only hope that as you grow older you will- grow wiser. 
 Well, you had better come up and have a talk with me 
 about the assets your uncle mentions in his will." 
 
146 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " Then you don't know anything about them, sir? " 
 
 " Nothing at all, except as to the accumulations in his 
 absence. He mentioned vaguely that he was a wealthy 
 man. I thought that, as a matter of course, he had told 
 his brother all about it." 
 
 " It is a curious business, sir, and I doubt if there will 
 ever be anything besides the accumulations you speak of ." 
 
 "Bless me, you don't say so! Well, well, I always 
 thought that it was the most foolish business that I ever 
 heard of. However, you shall tell me all about it when 
 you come up. I shall miss my coach unless I start." 
 
 So saying, he shook Mark's hand, took his place in the 
 gig, and was driven away. Millicent did not come down- 
 stairs again that day. 
 
 " She is thoroughly upset," Mrs. Cunningham said, 
 " and it would be best to let her have her own way for a 
 time. I think the sooner I can get her away from here 
 the better. The house is full of sad memories, and I 
 myself feel shaken and in need of a change." 
 
 " I can quite understand her feeling and yours, Mrs. 
 Cunningham. I do hope you will be able to disabuse her 
 mind of the idea that I have any shadow of feeling of re- 
 gret that she instead of I has the estate, and please try to 
 work upon her on the ground of her father's wishes. I 
 could see that her face changed when Mr. Prendergast put 
 the matter in that light, which I do not think had oc- 
 curred to her before. I am thinking of going up to town 
 in a couple of days; I was thinking of doing so to-morrow, 
 but a day or so will make no difference. I propose that } r ou 
 both go with me, and that I then help you look for a house. 
 Even if you don't get one at once, a week in London will 
 be a change, and you can then, if you like, go somewhere, 
 for a time. Of course Bath would be too gay at present; 
 but you might go to Tunbridge Wells, or, if she would like 
 a seaside place, as she has never been near the sea since 
 she was a baby, that would be the greatest change for her. 
 You might go down for a month or two to Dover or Has- 
 tings. There is no occasion for you to settle down in Lon- 
 don for a time. There is Weymouth, too, if you would 
 like it better. I believe that that is a cheerful place with- 
 out being too fashionable." 
 
COLONEL THORFDYKE'S SECRET. 147 
 
 " I think that will be an excellent plan/' Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham r-aid. 
 
 " If you like I will drive you up to town, and the lug- 
 gage can go by the carrier; it is more pleasant than being 
 shut up in a coach." 
 
 " Much more cheerful, of course." 
 
 " You will, of course, leave many of your things here, 
 and the packing them up will give her something to do, 
 and prevent her from brooding." 
 
 " I think that is an excellent idea, Mark." 
 
 Late in the afternoon Ramoo came in in his usual silent 
 manner. The man had said but little during the past few 
 days, but it was evident that he was grieving deeply, and 
 he looked years older than he had done before that fatal 
 night. 
 
 " Of course, Ramoo, you will stay with me for the pres- 
 ent. I hardly know what I shall be doing for a time, but 
 I am sure that until I settle down, Miss Conyers will be 
 very glad to have you with her." 
 
 " No, sahib, Ramoo will return home to India. Ramoo 
 is getting old; he was thirty when he entered the service 
 of the Colonel, sahib; he is fifty now; he will go home to 
 end his days; he has saved enough to live in comfort, and 
 with what the lawyer sahib told him your father has left 
 him he will be a rich man among his own people." 
 
 " But you will find things changed, Ramoo, since you 
 left; while here, you know, we all regard you as a friend 
 rather than as a servant." 
 
 " You are all very kind and good, sahib. Ramoo knows 
 that he will meet no friends like those he has here, but he 
 longs for the bright sun and blue sky of India, and 
 tbough it will well-nigh break his heart to leave the young 
 missic and you, he feels that he must go." 
 
 " All right, Ramoo. We shall all be very sorry to lose 
 you, but I understand your longing to go home, and I 
 know that you always feel our cold winters very trying; 
 therefore I will not oppose your wishes. I shall be going 
 up to town in two or three days, and will arrange to pay 
 your legacy at once, and will inquire what vessels are 
 sailing." 
 
 Millicent was unfeignedly sorry when she heard of 
 
148 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Eamoo's determination; she was very fond of him, for 
 when as a child she first arrived at Crowswood he had 
 been her companion whenever the Squire did not require 
 his services, and would accompany her about the garden 
 and grounds, listening to her prattle, carrying her on his 
 shoulder, and obeying her behests. No doubt he knew 
 that she was the daughter of his former master, and had 
 to a certaint extent transferred his allegiance from the 
 sahib, whose life he had several times saved, to his little 
 daughter. Still, she agreed with Mark that it was perhaps 
 best that he should go. She and Mrs. Cunningham would 
 find but little occasion for his services when established in 
 London, and his swarthy complexion and semi-Eastern 
 costume would attract attention, and perhaps trouble, 
 when he went abroad — the population being less accus- 
 tomed to Orientals then than at present — but still less 
 would they know what to do with him were they for a 
 time to wander about. Mark said at once that so long as 
 he himself was engaged in the task that he had set himself, 
 he could not take Eamoo with him, and as for his staying 
 alone in the house when it was only in charge of a care- 
 taker, it was not to be thought of. 
 
 Although not inclined at the present time to agree with 
 Mark in anything, Millicent could not but acknowledge 
 that it were best that Eamoo should not be urged further 
 to reconsider his determination, and she also fell in with 
 his proposal that they should go up to London for a week, 
 and then go down to Weymouth for a time, after which 
 they would be guided by circumstances. 
 
 Accordingly, two days later, Mark drove Millicent and 
 Mrs. Cunningham up to London. A groom accompanied 
 them on Mark's favorite horse. This was to be left in 
 town for his use, and the groom was to drive the carriage 
 back again. Comfortable rooms were obtained in a quiet 
 inn for the ladies, while Mark put up at the Bull, saying 
 that he would come every day to take them out. 
 
 "Why did not Mark stay here, Mrs. Cunningham? " 
 Millicent asked pettishly. 
 
 " I suppose he thought it better that he should not do 
 so; and I own that I think he was right." 
 
 " When we were, as we supposed, no relation to each 
 
COLONEL TEOBNDTEE'S SECRET. 149 
 
 other/' Millicent said, "we could be like brother and 
 sister. Now that we find that we are cousins we are going 
 to be stiff and ceremonious." 
 
 " Not necessarily because you are cousins, Millicent. 
 Before, you were his father's ward, and under his father's 
 care; now you are a young lady on your own account. You 
 must see that the position is changed greatly, and that 
 what was quite right and proper before would not be at all 
 right and proper now." 
 
 Millicent shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Oh, if Mark wishes to be distant and stiff he can 
 certainlv do so if he likes it. It makes no matter to 
 me." 
 
 " That is not at all fair, Millicent, and very unlike your- 
 self. Had not Mark suggested his going to another inn, I 
 should have suggested it myself." 
 
 "Oh, yes;. no doubt it is better," Millicent said care- 
 lessly. " He has several friends in town, and of course we 
 cannot expect him to be devoting himself to us." 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham raised her eyebrows slightly, but 
 made no answer. Millicent was seldom wayward, but at 
 present things had gone very hardly with her, and her 
 friend felt that it would be better to leave her entirely to 
 herself until her humor changed. In the morning, 
 . when Mark came round, Millicent announced that she felt 
 tired with the drive of the previous clay, and would prefer 
 staying indoors. Mark looked a little surprised, more at 
 the tone than at the substance of the words, for the man- 
 ner in which she spoke showed that the excuse she had 
 given was not her only reason for not going out. 
 
 " Of course, I shall stay at home too," Mrs. Cunningham 
 said quietly, as he glanced toward her inquiringly. " Milli- 
 cent i.s unnerved and shaken, and perhaps it is just as well 
 for her to have a day's complete rest." 
 
 " Very well, Mrs. Cunningham; then I will, as I cannot 
 be of any use to you, set about my own business for the 
 day. 1 have already been round to the lawyer's, and 
 have got a check for Ramoo's legacy. He will be up this 
 afternoon, and I will go round to Leadenhall Street and 
 find out what ships are sailing and when they start. I 
 will come in this evening for a chat." 
 
150 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Millicent sat without speaking for some minutes, after 
 he had left the room. Mrs. Cunningham, whose hands 
 were always busy, took some work out of a bag and set to 
 work at it industriously. Presently the girl said: 
 
 " What business is this that Mark is going to occupy 
 himself in? " 
 
 " I do not know much about it," she replied. " But 
 from a few words which he let drop I believe that he 
 intends to devote himself to discovering and hunting down 
 your uncle's murderer." 
 
 The listless expression faded out at once of Millicent'g 
 face. 
 
 " But surely, Mrs. Cunningham, that will be very 
 dangerous work." 
 
 " No doubt it will be dangerous work, but I don't think 
 that that is likely to hinder Mark. The man, whoever he 
 may be, is of course a desperate character, and not likely. 
 to be captured without making a fierce struggle for it." 
 
 " Then he ought to put the matter in the hands of the 
 proper authorities," Millicent said decidedly. " Of 
 course such men are dangerous. Very likely this man 
 may have accomplices, and it is not against one only that 
 Mark will have to fight. He has no right to risk his life 
 in so desperate an adventure." 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham smiled quietly over her work. The 
 Squire had often confided to her how glad he would be if 
 these two should some day come together. In that case 
 the disclosure after marriage of the real facts of the case 
 would cause no disturbance or difficulty. The estate 
 would be theirs, and it would not matter which had 
 brought it into the partnership; she had thoroughly 
 agreed with him, but so far nothing had occurred to give 
 any ground for the belief that their hopes would be ful- 
 filled. 
 
 Till within the last year Millicent had been little more 
 than a child; she had looked up to Mark as she might have 
 done to a big brother, as something most admirable, as one 
 whose dictum was law. During the last year there had 
 been some slight change, but more, perhaps, on Mark's 
 part than on hers. He had consulted her wishes more, 
 had asked instead of ordered, and had begun to treat her 
 
COLONEL THOHNDYKE'S SECRET 151 
 
 as if conscious that she was fast growing up into woman- 
 hood. 
 
 Millicent herself scarcely seemed to have noticed this 
 change. She was little more inclined to assert herself 
 than before, but was ready to accompany him whenever he 
 wished her to do so, or to see him go away without com- 
 plaint, when it so pleased him; but the last week had made 
 a rapid change in their position. Millicent had sprung 
 almost at a bound into a young woman. She had come to 
 think and resolve for herself; she was becoming wayward 
 and fanciful; she no longer deferred to Mark's opinion, 
 but held her own, and was capable of being vexed at his 
 decisions. At any rate, her relations with Mark had 
 changed rapidly, and Mrs. Cunningham considered this 
 little outburst of pettishness to be a good omen for her 
 hopes, and very much better than if they had continued 
 on their old footing of affectionate cousins. 
 
 Mark went back again to the lawyer's, and had a long 
 talk with Mr. Prendergast over the lost treasure. The old 
 lawyer scoffed at the idea that there could be any danger 
 associated with the bracelet. 
 
 " Men in India, I suppose, get fanciful," he said, " and 
 imbibe some of the native superstitions. The soldier who 
 got them from the man who stole them was stabbed. He 
 might have been stabbed for a thousand reasons, but he 
 had the bracelet on his mind. He was forever hiding it 
 and digging it up, and fancying that someone was on 
 his track, and he put down the attack as being made by 
 someone connected with it. His manner impressed your 
 uncle. He concealed the diamonds or sent them off some- 
 where, instantly. He never had any further trouble about 
 them, but like many men who have a craze, fancied that 
 he was being perpetually watched and followed. The 
 unfortunate result of all this is that these jewels and the 
 money that he accumulated during his service in India 
 seem to be lost. A more stupid affair I never heard of. 
 
 " Now, as to the clew, any reasonable man would have 
 given full instructions as to how the treasure was to be 
 found; or if he did not do that, would, at least, instead of 
 carrying about an absurd coin and a scrap of paper with a 
 name upon it, have written his instructions and put them 
 
152 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 in that ridiculous hiding-place, or, more wisely still, would 
 have instructed his solicitor fully on the subject. The 
 amount of trouble given by men, otherwise perfectly sane, 
 by cranks and fancies is astonishing. Here is something 
 like £100,000 lost owing to a superstitious whim. As to 
 your chance of finding the treasure, I regard it as small 
 indeed. The things are hidden in India, in some old tomb, 
 or other rubbishing place. Your uncle may have com- 
 mitted them to the charge of a native; he may have sent 
 them to a banker at one of the great towns; he may have 
 shipped them to England. He may have sent them to the 
 North Pole for anything I know. How can one begin to 
 search the universe? " 
 
 " I thought, sir, that perhaps he might have sent them 
 to some London Bank or agent, with instructions to hold 
 them until claimed by him, and that perhaps an inquiry 
 among such houses would lead to the discovery that they 
 hold certain property forwarded by him." 
 
 " Well, there is some sense in that suggestion," Prender- 
 gast grumbled, " and I suppose the first thing to be done 
 will be to carry that out. If you wish, we will do it for 
 you. They would be more likely to give the information, 
 if they possess it, to a well-known firm of solicitors like 
 ourselves than to any private individual. Besides, if you 
 were to go yourself, they would in each case want you to 
 be identified before they would answer any question, 
 whereas I should write a note to them in the firm's name, 
 with our compliments, saying that we should be glad to 
 know if the late Colonel Thorndyke, of whose will we are 
 the executors, had any account at their firm or has de- 
 posited any property in their hands. There are not above 
 five of six banks doing business with India, and as many 
 agents in a large way of business; and if he did such a 
 foolish thing, he would be certain to do it with some 
 houses of good standing — if, indeed, anything can be taken 
 as certain in the case of a gentleman with such extraordi- 
 nary fancies and plans as his." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Prendergast," Mark said, with a slight 
 smile at the lawyer's irritability; " that will be clearing 
 the ground to a certain extent. If that does not succeed, 
 I think I shall go to India myself, and shall there make 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 153 
 
 similar inquiries at all the principal establishments at 
 Calcutta and Madras. Should I fail there, it seems to me 
 that the only remaining plan will be to find out from the 
 military authorities the place where my uncle's regiment 
 was encamped on the day — we have the date on which the 
 jewels were given to him — and to institute a minute search 
 of all the old ruins within such a distance as he might have 
 reached within a day's ride." 
 
 " But you have no certainty that it was a ruin. He 
 might have dug a hole under his tent and have buried the 
 tilings there; he might have taken a shovel and buried 
 them in a clump of bushes a quarter of a mile away. The 
 thing is more and more ridiculous the more you look 
 at it." 
 
 " I see it is very difficult, sir, but one might narrow it 
 down somewhat if one discovered the spot. Probably 
 there are still native officers in the regiment who were 
 there at the time. If so, they might possibly know who 
 was my uncle's servant at the time. The man may be a 
 pensioner, and in that case I might discover his address 
 through the military authorities, and I could find out 
 from him whether my uncle often rode out at night, what 
 were his habits, and possibly where the tent stood, and 
 so on." 
 
 " Well," Mr. Prendergast said, " if you like to under- 
 take a wild-goose chase of this sort it is your business, and 
 not mine; but I consider the idea is the most Utopian that 
 I ever heard of. As to where the tent stood, is it likely 
 that a man would remember to within a hundred yards 
 where a tent stood fourteen years ago? Why, you might 
 dig up acres and acres of ground and not be sure then 
 that you had hit upon the right place." 
 
 " There is one other circumstance, Mr. Prendergast," 
 Mark said quietly, "that has to be taken into considera- 
 tion, and which renders it improbable that these diamonds 
 were hidden anywhere by my uncle himself at that time. 
 He certainly spoke of the whole of this treasure collec- 
 tively. It is morally certain that he would not carry all 
 these jewels that he had been collecting about with him, 
 and certainly not his treasure in money. He must, there- 
 fore, have sent these diamonds to the person, whoever he 
 
154 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 may be, who had the keeping of his other jewels and of his 
 money.. This certainly points to a bank." 
 
 " There is a sensible conjecture. Yes, there is something 
 in that. He certainly could not have carried about him 
 £50,000 in gold and as much in jewelry; it would have 
 been the act of a madman, and Colonel Thorndyke, 
 although eccentric and cranky, was not mad. But, on the 
 other hand, he may have carried about a banker's pass- 
 book, or what is equivalent to it, for the amount that had 
 been deposited with a native banker or agent, together 
 with a receipt for the box containing the jewels, and this 
 he might have hidden with the diamonds." 
 
 " I don't think that he would have done that; there 
 could have been no object for his putting the power of 
 demanding his money and v aluables out of his possession." 
 
 " Well, well," the lawyer said testily, " it is of no use 
 arguing now what he might or might not have done. A 
 man who would have taken the trouble that he did to pre- 
 vent his daughter knowing that she was an heiress, and 
 fancied that he was followed about by black fellows, 
 might do anything, reasonable or unreasonable, under the 
 sun. At any rate, Mr. Thorndyke, I will carry out your 
 instructions as to inquiries in London, and will duly in- 
 form you of the result; beyond that I must really decline 
 to give any advice or opinion upon the matter, which is 
 altogether beyond me." 
 
 On leaving the lawyer's, Mark went to Bow Street, and 
 related to the chief the circumstances attending his 
 father's murder. 
 
 " I have heard them from the man I sent down at your 
 request, Mr. Thorndyke, and taking the attempt early in 
 the evening and the subsequent murder, there can be no 
 doubt that the affair was one of revenge, and not of 
 robbery. Had the second attempt stood alone, robbery 
 might have been the object; the mere fact that nothing 
 was stolen in no way alters the case. Men are often 
 seized with a certain panic after committing a murder, and 
 fry at once without attempting to carry out their original 
 purpose. Your father, no doubt, fell heavily, and the man 
 might well have feared that the fall would be heard; but 
 the previous attempt precludes the supposition that rob- 
 
COLONEL TIIORNDYKE'S SECRET. 155 
 
 bery was at the bottom of it. It points to a case of 
 revenge, and certainly goes a very long way to support the 
 theory that we talked over when I last saw you, that the 
 highwayman who endeavored to stop you on the road, 
 whom you wounded, and who afterwards went down' to 
 Southampton, was the escaped convict, Bastow. Since 
 that time I have had a man making inquiries along the 
 roads between Reigate and Kingston, but altogether with- 
 out success. I should be glad to follow up any other line 
 that you might suggest, and that might offer any reason- 
 able possibility of success, but I must own that at present 
 we are entirely off the scent." 
 
 " I am thinking of devoting myself entirely to the 
 quest. I have no occupation at present. • I have an income 
 amply sufficient for my wants, and for all expenses that I 
 may incur, and I intend to devote, if necessary, some 
 years of my life to hunting this man down. As your men 
 have searched without success in the country, I think for 
 the present my best plan will be to devote myself to learn- 
 ing something of the ways and haunts of the criminal 
 classes of London, and it is with that object that I have 
 come to you now. I should like, for some time, at any 
 rate, to enter the detective force as an enrolled member. 
 I should, of course, require no pay, but should be prepared 
 to obey all orders and to do any work required, as any 
 other member of the corps would do. I am strong, active, 
 and have, I hope, a fair share of intelligence. I should 
 not mind risking my life in carrying out any duty that 
 you might assign to me. I presume that I need not always 
 be on duty, and could, when not required, employ my time 
 as I liked, and keep up my acquaintances in town. Should 
 it be otherwise, however, I am perfectly ready to submit 
 myself in all respects to your rule. I have a first-rate 
 horse and should be available for country duty, wherever 
 you might think fit to send me. 1 should not desire any 
 • list inction to be made between me and the paid officers." 
 
 '* Your proposal is an altogether novel one, Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke, but it is worthy of consideration. I have no doubt 
 that you would make a very useful officer; the work is 
 certainly interesting, though not without serious hazards. 
 However, I will think the matter over, and if you will call 
 
156 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 in to-morrow you shall have my answer. We are always 
 glad to have a new hand in the force, for the faces of our 
 men are so well-known among the criminal class that they 
 are liable to be detected even under the cleverest disguises. 
 There is work, too, upon which it is absolutely necessary 
 that a gentleman should be employed, and in the event of 
 your joining us, I should wish you to keep the matter 
 strictly from all your acquaintances; and it would cer- 
 tainly be advantageous that you should, when disengaged, 
 continue to mix with your friends and to mingle in society 
 of all kinds as freely as possible. There is crime among 
 the upper classes as well as among the lower, though of a 
 different type; and as Mr. Thorndyke of Crowswood you 
 would have far better opportunities of investigating some 
 of these cases than any of my men would have. You 
 would not object to take up such cases? " 
 
 " Not at all, sir; that is, if it could be arranged that I 
 should not do the actual work of making an arrest, or have 
 to appear in court as a witness." 
 
 " That could be managed," the chief said. " When you 
 have got to a certain point the matter of the final arrest 
 could always be handed over to someone else, but as a rule 
 we keep our officers in the background as much as possible, 
 because at every trial the court is half-full of men of the 
 criminal class, and the faces of our men would soon be 
 known to every one of them. Well, if you will call about 
 ten o'clock to-morrow you shall have my answer; but I 
 should advise you to think the matter well over before you 
 see me again. The responsibilities as well as the dangers 
 are great, and indeed in some of the work you would 
 literally have to carry your life in your hand; and I 
 can assure you that the task you would undertake is by no 
 means a light one." 
 
CHAPTEB XI. 
 
 Mark called that evening, as he had promised, upon 
 Mrs. Cunningham. 
 
 " I hope that you feel all the better for your day's rest, 
 Millicent," he said. 
 
 The girl looked quickly at him to see if there was any 
 sarcasm in the question,but it was evident that the inquiry 
 was made in earnest. 
 
 " Yes, I feel better now," she 'said. " I have dozed a 
 good deal to-day. I did not feel up to anything. Mrs. 
 Cunningham's work has progressed wonderfully. I 
 should say that she has done more to-day than she 
 ordinarily finds time to do in a week. What have you 
 been doing with yourself? " 
 
 " I have been having a long talk with Mr. Prendergast 
 about the lost treasure." 
 
 " And of course he said that you would never find it, 
 Mark?" 
 
 " Well, yes, he distinctly expressed that opinion." 
 
 "And afterwards?" 
 
 " Afterwards I went to Bow Street and had a long talk 
 also with the chief officer there." 
 
 " I don't like the idea of your searching for this man, 
 Mark. In the first place, I don't see why you should hope 
 to succeed when the men whose business it is to do such 
 work have failed. In the next place, I think that you may 
 get into serious danger." 
 
 " That I must risk, Millicent. I have already proved 
 a better shot than he is, and I am quite ready to take my 
 chance if I can but come upon him; that is the difficult 
 part of the matter. I know that I shall need patience, 
 but I have plenty of time before me, and have great hopes 
 that I shall run him to earth at last." 
 
 " But vou would not know him if you saw him? " 
 
 157 
 
158 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " I think I should," Mark said quietly; " at least, if he 
 is the man that I suspect." 
 
 "Then you do suspect someone?" Mrs. Cunningham 
 said, laying down her work. 
 
 " Yes, I know of no reason why you should not know it 
 now. I suspect — indeed, I feel morally certain — that the 
 man who murdered my father was Arthur Bastow." 
 
 An exclamation of surprise broke from both his hearers, 
 and they listened with horror while he detailed the various 
 grounds that he had for his suspicions. They were silent 
 for some time after he had brought his narrative to a 
 conclusion, then Mrs. Cunningham said: 
 
 " What a merciful release for Mr. Bastow that he should 
 have died before this terrible thing came out! For after 
 what you have told us I can hardly doubt that you are 
 right, and that it is this wicked man who is guilty." 
 
 " Yes, it was indeed providental," Mark said, " though 
 I think that, feeble as he has been for some months, it 
 might have been kept from him. Still, a word from a 
 chance visitor, who did not associate Bastow the murderer 
 with our dear old friend, might have enlightened him, 
 and the blow would have been a terrible one indeed. It is 
 true that, as it was, he died from the shock, but he did 
 not know the hand that struck the blow." 
 
 " Now that you have told me this," Millicent said, " I 
 cannot blame you, Mark, for determining to hunt the man 
 down. It seems even worse than it did before; it is awful 
 to think that anyone could cherish revenge like that. 
 Now tell me how you are going to set about it." 
 
 " I have promised the chief officer that I will tell 
 absolutely no one," he said. " I have a plan, and I believe 
 that in time it must be successful. I know well enough 
 that I could tell you both of it without any fear of its 
 going further, but he asked me to promise, and I did so 
 without reservation; moreover, I think that for some 
 reasons it is as well that even you should not know it. As 
 it is, you are aware that I am going to try, and that is all. 
 If I were to tell you how, you might be picturing all sorts 
 of imaginary dangers and wording yourself over it, so I 
 think that it will be much the best that you should remain 
 in ignorance, at any rate for a time. I can say this, that I 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 159 
 
 shall for the present remain principally in London, and I 
 think that I am more likely to come upon a clew here than 
 elsewhere." 
 
 Millicent pouted, but Mrs. Cunningham said: 
 
 " I think, perhaps, that you are right, Mark, and it is 
 better that we should know nothing about it; we shall 
 know that you are looking for a clew, but of course no 
 danger can arise until you obtain it and attempt to arrest 
 him. I feel sure that you will do nothing rash, especially 
 as if any harm befell you he might escape unpunished, and 
 therefore that when the time comes to seize him you will 
 obtain such help as may be necessary, and will, if possible, 
 arrest him at a moment when resistance is impossible." 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Cunningham; I shall certainly spare 
 no efforts in taking him that way, and would far rather 
 he met his fate on a gibbet than by a bullet from my 
 pistol." 
 
 " I agree with you, Mark," Millicent said; " even hang- 
 ing is too good for such a wicked man. When are you 
 going to set about it? " 
 
 " I hope to be able to begin to-morrow," he said. " I 
 am impatient to be at work, even though I know perfectly 
 well that it may be months before I can get on his track. 
 I hope to get a good deal of information as to the habits 
 of men of his kind from the Bow Street runners, and I 
 have an appointment to-morrow morning to see their 
 chief, who will give me every assistance in his power." 
 
 " Then you will not be able to take us out? " Millicent 
 said. 
 
 " I trust to do so later on, but I cannot say how long I 
 shall be engaged. However, I hope to get away so as to 
 go out with you after lunch, and may possibly be able to 
 postpone my getting regularly to work until after you 
 have gone, so as to be able to devote myself to your 
 service." 
 
 " But what sort of work? I cannot make out how you 
 are going to begin." 
 
 " I can tell you this much, that to begin with I shall go 
 in company with a constable to various places where such 
 a man is likely to be found. It will take some time to 
 acquaint myself with all these localities; the next step 
 
160 COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 will be to find out, if possible, if anyone at all answering 
 to his description is in the habit of coming there occasion- 
 ally, and whom he visits; another thing will be to find out 
 the places where receivers of stolen goods do their busi- 
 ness, and to watch those with whom highwaymen are 
 suspected of having dealings. All this, you see, will entail 
 a lot of work, and require a very large amount of patience. 
 Of course, if nothing whatever comes of such inquiries, I 
 shall have to try quiet places in the suburbs; you must 
 remember that this fellow during his time as a convict 
 must have had opportunities of getting a vast amount of 
 information likely to be useful to him, such as the ad- 
 dresses of men holding positions of apparent respecta- 
 bility, and yet in alliance with thieves. You may be sure 
 that when he returned he took every imaginable pains to 
 obtain a safe place of concealment before he began his 
 work; my own opinion is that I am more likely to find him 
 living quietly in a suburban cottage than in a London 
 slum." 
 
 Millicent was now thoroughly interested in the search. 
 
 " It seems a great business, Mark, but going into it as 
 thoroughly as you are doing I feel sure that you will 
 succeed. I only wish that I could help you; but I could 
 not do that, could I? " she asked wistfully. 
 
 He saw that she was in earnest, and suppressed all 
 semblance of a smile. 
 
 " I am afraid, dear, that you would be a much greater 
 source of embarrassment than of assistance to me," he 
 said gravely. " This is essentially not a woman's work. 
 I believe that women are sometimes employed in the 
 detection of what we may call domestic crimes, but this is 
 a different matter altogether." 
 
 " I suppose so," she sighed; " but it will be very hard to 
 be taking our ease down at Weymouth while we know that 
 3^ou are, day after day, wearing yourself out in tramping 
 about making inquiries." 
 
 " It will be no more fatiguing than tramping through 
 the stubble round Crows wood after partridges, which I 
 should probably be doing now if I were down there. By 
 the way, before you go we shall have to talk over the 
 question of shutting up the house. We had too much to 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 161 
 
 think of to go into that before we came away, and I sup- 
 pose I shall have to run down and arrange it all, if you 
 have quite made up your mind that you don't mean to 
 return for a year or two." 
 
 " Decidedly our present idea is to have a few weeks at 
 Weymouth, and then when we feel braced up to come 
 back here and look for a house. Where are you likely to 
 be, Mark ? " Mrs. Cunningham asked. 
 
 " I shall consult with Dick Chetwynd; he knows the 
 town thoroughly, and is more up here than he is down in 
 the country; he will recommend me to some lodging in a 
 street that, without being the height of fashion, is at least 
 passable. I have not the least wish to become a regular 
 man about town, but I should like to go into good society. 
 One cannot be at work incessantly." 
 
 The next morning the chief of the detective department 
 told Mark that he had decided to accept his offer. 
 
 " As you will receive no pay," he said, " I shall regard 
 you as a sort of volunteer. For the first two or three 
 months you will spend your time in going about with one 
 or other of my men on his work. They will be able to 
 put you up to disguises. When you have once learned to 
 know all the thieves' quarters and the most notorious 
 receivers of stolen goods, you will be able to go about 
 your work on your own account. All that I require is 
 that you shall report yourself here twice a day. Should I 
 have on hand any business for which you may appear to 
 me particularly well suited, I shall request you to at once 
 undertake it, and from time to time, when there is a 
 good deal of business on hand, I may get you to aid one 
 of my men who may require an assistant in the job on 
 which he is engaged." 
 
 " I am sure I am very much obliged to you, sir," Mark 
 said, " and will, I can assure you, do my best in every way 
 to assist your men in any business in which they may be 
 en<ra<?ed." 
 
 " When will you begin? " 
 
 " It is Saturday to-day, sir. I think I will postpone 
 Bel iing to until Monday week. My cousin and the lady in 
 whose charge she is came up with me on Thursday, and 
 will be leaving town the end of next week, and I should 
 
162 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 wish to escort them about while here. I will come on 
 Monday morning ready for work. How had I better be 
 dressed? " 
 
 " I should say as a countryman. A convenient charac- 
 ter for you to begin with will be that of a man who, having 
 got into a poaching fray, and hurt a gamekeeper, has 
 made for London as the best hiding-place. You are quite 
 uncertain about your future movements, but you are 
 thinking of enlisting." 
 
 " Very well, sir, I will get the constable at Eeigate, 
 who knows me well, to send me a suit. I might find it 
 difficult to get all the things I want here." 
 
 Accordingly, for the next week Mark devoted himself to 
 the ladies. Millicent, in her interest in the work that he 
 was about to undertake, had now quite got over her fit 
 of ill-temper, and the old cordial relations were renewed. 
 On the Friday he saw them into the Weymouth coach, then 
 sauntered off to his friend Chetwynd's lodgings. 
 
 Eamoo had-*' already sailed. On his arrival in town he 
 had said that he should, if possible, arrange to go out as a 
 steward. " Many men of my color who have come over 
 here with their masters go back in that way," he said, in 
 answer to Mark's remonstrances. " It is much more com- 
 fortable that way than as a passenger. If you go third- 
 class, rough fellows laugh and mock; if you go second- 
 class, men look as much as to say, ' What is that colored 
 fellow doing here? This is no place for him.' Much bet- 
 ter go as steward; not very hard work; very comfortable; 
 plenty to eat; no one laugh or make fun." 
 
 " Well, perhaps it would be best, when one comes to 
 think of it, Eamoo; but I would gladly pay your passage 
 in any class you like." 
 
 " Eamoo go his own way, sahib," he said. " No pay 
 passage money; me go to docks where boats are sailing, go 
 on board and see head steward. Head steward glad 
 enough to take good servant who is willing to work his 
 way out, and ask for no w r ages. Head steward draw w T ages 
 for him, and put wages in his own pocket. He very well 
 satisfied." 
 
 On Wednesday he came and told Mark that he had 
 arranged to sail in the Nabob, and was to go on board 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 163 
 
 early the next morning. He seemed a great deal affected, 
 and Mark and Millicent were equally sorry to part with the 
 faithful fellow. 
 
 " Well, old man," Dick Chetwynd said, when Mark 
 entered the room, where he was still at breakfast, " I was 
 beginning to wonder whether you had gone to Eeigate. 
 Why, when I saw you last Friday you told me that you 
 would look me up in a day or two." 
 
 " I have been busy showing London to Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham and Miss Conyers," he replied — for Millicent had 
 insisted on keeping her former name, at any rate for the 
 present — and Mark was somewhat glad that there had 
 been no necessity for entering into any explanations. It 
 was agreed that when he went down to discharge some of 
 the servants and called upon his friends he should say 
 nothing of the change in his position, but should assign as 
 a motive that he intended to travel about for a long time, 
 and that he felt he could not settle down in the lonely 
 house, at any rate for two or three years, and therefore 
 intended to diminish the establishment. 
 
 " You will have some breakfast, Mark ? " 
 
 " No, thank you. I breakfasted two hours ago." 
 
 " Then you still keep to your intention to stay in 
 London for a while ? " 
 
 " Yes. I don't feel that I could bear the house alone," 
 Mark replied. " You see, Mrs. Cunningham and my 
 uncle's ward could not very well remain in a bachelor's 
 home, and naturally, after what has happened, they would 
 not like to do so, even if they could. They have gone 
 down to Weymouth for a few weeks for a complete change; 
 and Mrs. Cunningham talks of taking a house in town for 
 a time. I am going to look for lodgings, and I want your 
 advice as to the quarter likely to suit me." 
 
 " Why not take up your abode here for a time? There 
 is a vacant room, and I should be very glad to have you 
 with me." 
 
 " Thank you very much, Dick, but I should prefer being 
 alone. You will have friends dropping in to see you, and 
 at present I should be poor company. It will be some 
 little time before I shall feel equal to society." 
 
 " Of course, Mark. I always speak first and think after- 
 
164 COLONEL THORNDTEE'S SECRET. 
 
 wards, as you know pretty well by this time. Well, what 
 sort of lodgings do you want? " 
 
 " I want them to be in a good but not in a thoroughly 
 fashionable street. In time, no doubt, I shall like a little 
 society, and shall get you to introduce me to some of 
 the quieter of your friends, and so gradually feel my 
 way." 
 
 " I will do all that sort of thing for you, Mark. As 
 you know, I am not one of those who see much fun in 
 gambling or drinking, though one must play a little to be 
 in the fashion. Still, I never go heavily into it. I risk a 
 few guineas and then leave it. My own inclinations lie 
 rather towards sport, and in this I can indulge without 
 being out of the fashion. All the tip-top people now 
 patronize the ring, and I do so in my small way too. I am 
 on good terms with all the principal prizefighters, and 
 put on the gloves with one or other of them pretty nearly 
 every day. I have taken courses of lessons regularly from 
 four or five of them, and I can tell you that I can hold my 
 own with most of the Corinthians. It is a grand sport, 
 anl I don't know how I should get on without it; after the 
 hard exercise I was accustomed to down in the country, it 
 keeps one's muscles in splendid order, and I can tell you 
 that if one happens to get into a fight in the streets, it is 
 no light thing to be able to polish off an antagonist in a 
 round or two without getting a mark on your face that 
 Avould keep you a prisoner in your room for a week or 
 more." 
 
 " Yes, I should like very much to take lessons too, DicK; 
 it is one of the things that I have always wished to do. I 
 suppose one can do it of an evening, or any time you 
 like?" 
 
 " Yes, any hour suits those fellows. You ought to get 
 either a heavy middleweight or a light heavyweight; you 
 will be a heavyweight yourself by the time you have filled 
 out. Let me think; what is your height — six feet one, if 
 I remember rightly? " 
 
 " Yes, that is about it," 
 
 " Well, with your shoulders and long reach and activity, 
 you ought to be something out of the way if you take 
 pains, Mark. You see, I am barely five feet ten, and am 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 165 
 
 something like two stone lighter than you are. I 
 suppose you are not much under twelve stone and a 
 half." 
 
 " That is just about my weight; I weighed at the miller's 
 only a fortnight ago." 
 
 " Good. I will make some inquiries, and see who 
 would be the best man to take you in hand to begin with. 
 And now about lodgings. Well, I should say Essex 
 Street, or any of those streets running down from the 
 Strand, would suit you. The rooms in Essex Street are 
 bigger than those in Buckingham Street, and you will find 
 anything between the two in some of the others. I may 
 as well saunter round there with you. Of course money 
 is no object to you? " 
 
 " No," Mark agreed, " but I don't want big rooms. I 
 think a small one, when you are sitting by yourself, is 
 more cozy and comfortable." 
 
 Finally two rooms were taken in Villiers Street; they 
 were of moderate size and handsomely furnished: the last 
 tenant had fitted them out for himself, but had lived to 
 enjoy them only three months, having at the end of that 
 time been killed in a duel over a quarrel at cards. 
 
 " Well, I think you are in luck, Mark; you might look 
 through a good many streets before you would find rooms 
 so fashionably furnished as these. I see he went in for 
 driving; that is evident from these engravings on the 
 walls." 
 
 " They are common, gaudy-looking things," Mark said, 
 " and quite out of character with the furniture." 
 
 " Not at all, as times go, Mark; it is quite the thing for 
 a man to have prints showing his tastes, riding or driving, 
 shooting or coaching, or the ring. If you don't like them 
 you can take them down, or, what will be better, take them 
 out of their frames and put some of the champions past 
 and present up there instead." 
 
 " I will see about it," Mark said with a laugh. " I may 
 turn out a complete failure." 
 
 " There is no fear of that, Mark; and as the ring is all 
 the fashion now, I can assure you it would be considered 
 in good taste, though I own that in point of art most of 
 these things leave a good deal to be desired. Now that 
 
166 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 that important thing is settled, suppose you come and 
 lunch with me in Covent Garden? I don't belong to a 
 club yet, though I have got my name down at a couple of 
 them, but as far as I can see they are slow sort of places 
 unless you know a lot of people. The coffee-houses are 
 much more amusing; you see people of all sorts there — 
 fellows like myself, who have no clubs to go to; country 
 gentlemen up for a week; a few writers, who, by the way, 
 are not the best customers of these places; men whom 
 nobody knows, and men whom everybody knows. Of 
 course, the best time to see them is of an evening." 
 
 " Yes, I have generally been in of ah evening when I 
 have been up in town, Dick, and I have always been 
 amused. However, I am quite ready to lunch there now, 
 for I breakfasted early." 
 
 " I have to make some calls this afternoon, Mark. At 
 seven this evening I will look in at your lodgings, and you 
 shall go along with me to Ingleston's in St. Giles'. It is 
 one of the headquarters of the fancy, and Jack Needham, 
 who taught me, is safe to be there, and he will tell me who 
 he thinks is best for you to begin with." 
 
 Accordingly, after taking luncheon, they separated, and 
 Mark went to his inn. 
 
 Ingleston's was at that time regarded as the headquar- 
 ters of the fancy. At the back of the house was a large 
 room, with benches rising behind each other to accommo- 
 date the spectators. Here, on the evenings when it was 
 known that leading men would put on the gloves, peers of 
 the realm would sit side by side with sporting butchers, 
 and men of fashion back their opinion on a coming prize- 
 fight with ex-pugilists and publicans. A number of men 
 were assembled in the bar; among these was Jack Need- 
 ham. 
 
 " Good evening, Mr. Chetwynd," the man said as they 
 came up to him. " It's going to be a good night. Tring 
 and Bob Pratt are going to have a round or two together, 
 and Gibbons will put on the gloves with anyone who likes 
 to take him on." 
 
 " This gentleman is Mr. Thorndyke, a squire, Jack, 
 whose place is near mine at Eeigate. He has come up to 
 town for a few months, and wants to learn how to use his 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 167 
 
 mauleys. I told him that you would advise him as to who 
 would be the best man for him to go to." 
 
 " I can tell you better when 1 have seen him strip, sir. 
 There is no one in the big room at present. It won't be 
 open for half an hour. Ingleston keeps it shut as long as 
 he can so as to give everyone a fair chance of a good place. 
 If the gentleman will come in there with me I will have a 
 look at him." 
 
 Mark expressed his willingness to be looked at, and the 
 man having gone and got the key of the room from 
 Ingleston, went in with them and locked the door be- 
 hind. 
 
 " Now, sir, if you will strip to the waist I shall be better 
 able to say who you should have as your teacher than I 
 can now." 
 
 Mark stripped, and the man walked round and round 
 him, examining him critically. 
 
 " He's a big 'un," he said to Dick when he had com- 
 pleted his examination. " He has got plenty of muscle 
 and frame, and ought to be a tremendous hitter; he is 
 about the figure of Gibbons, and if he goes in for it really, 
 ought to make well-nigh as good a man, if not quite. I 
 don't think Bill would care about taking him up till he 
 knows a bit about it. I tell you what, sir; you will be 
 too big altogether for me by the time you get to be quick 
 on your legs, and to use your strength, but if you like I 
 will take you on for a month or so — say, two months; by 
 that time I think you will be good enough to go to Gib- 
 bons. I will just call him in if you don't mind; he came in 
 just before you." 
 
 In a couple of minutes he came in with a man of similar 
 height and somewhat similar figure tc Mark. 
 
 This is Gibbons, sir, ex-champion, and like enough he 
 might be champion now if he chose; as fine a boxer as ever 
 stripped, but he is ring-maker now to the P. C, and it 
 suits him better to do that and to teach, than to have a 
 chance of getting a battle once a year or so." 
 
 " Have you a great many pupils, Gibbons? ' ? 
 
 The man shook his head. 
 
 " I am too big, sir; gentlemen like to learn from some- 
 one about their own weight, or perhaps a bit lightsr, apd 
 
168 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 there are not many of them who would care to stand up 
 against a man who has been champion, and so I have 
 plenty of time on my hands. I am a hard hitter, too, 
 even with the gloves; that is one reason why Jack had 
 best take you on until you get a little handy with your 
 fists. I do more in the dog-fancier line than I do with 
 boxing, but there is nothing I like better than getting the 
 gloves on with an amateur who is likely to be a credit to 
 me. That is my card, sir; you will find me in pretty 
 nearly any time of the day, and I have got a place behind 
 the house where I do teaching when I get a chance. It is 
 handy in one way, because you can drop in and take a les- 
 son any time you like." 
 
 " That would suit me exceedingly well," Mark said; 
 *' and when I have had a couple of months with Needham 
 I will come to you." 
 
 Mark now put on his clothes again, and they went out 
 together, and re-entered a few minutes later, when the 
 door was open. The benches were soon crowded. Mark 
 had been to several prizefights with Dick Chetwynd, had 
 often boxed with him and other lads, and had had lessons 
 from an ex-prizefighter at Eeigate, and was therefore 
 able to appreciate the science shown by the various men 
 who confronted each other. The event of the evening was 
 the contest between Tring and Bob Pratt; both were very 
 powerful men, who were about to go into strict training 
 for matches that had been made for them against two west 
 countrymen, who were thought very highly of by their 
 friends, and who were regarded as possible candidates for 
 the championship. 
 
 Bob Pratt was a stone heavier than his opponent, but 
 far less active, and owed his position more to his ability 
 to take punishment, and to hard-hitting powers, than to 
 his science. In the two rounds that were fought, Tring 
 had the advantage, but the general opinion was that in 
 the long run the other would wear him down. Both 
 fought with good temper, and were warmly applauded as 
 they shook bands at the finish. 
 
 " I think I should back Tring in a fight," Mark said, as 
 the meeting broke up, " but it is difficult to say, for he is 
 in better condition than the other, and it may be that 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 160 
 
 when both are thoroughly fit the heavy man might show 
 more improvement than he would do." 
 
 The hat was passed round at the conclusion. Every 
 man dropped in his guinea, some more, it being under- 
 stood that the collection was divided between the two men, 
 to pay the expenses of their training. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The next morning Mark commenced work in earnest, 
 and for two months visited all the worst slums of London 
 in company with one of the Bow Street men. Both were 
 generally in disguise, but Mark's companion sometimes 
 went openly to some of the houses inhabited by men well 
 known as criminals. On such occasions Mark remained 
 within call, ready to go in if assistance should be required; 
 but there was small fear of this, the men who were visited 
 were all personally known to the officer, and generally 
 greeted him with " You aint wanting me, are you? " 
 
 " Not at all; what I am wanting is a little information 
 for which I shall be qiiite willing to pay the first man who 
 enables us to lay hands on the gentleman I want to find." 
 
 Then he would describe Bastow's appearance. 
 
 " He has taken to the road, I fancy, and has given us a 
 good deal of trouble; if it is the man I think it is, he has 
 been away from London for some years, and came back 
 eight or ten months ago." 
 
 The reply was always to the same effect: 
 
 " I don't know of such a man, and never heard of him. 
 For my part, I would not split on a pal, not for anything; 
 but I should not mind earning five guineas to put you on 
 a cove who is not one of us. Besides, it aint only the 
 monev; you know, you might do me a good turn some 
 day."' 
 
 " Quite so; well, I can tell you it is a good deal more 
 than five guineas that would be earned if you could put 
 me in the way of laying my hand on his shoulder. I 
 don't think that he is living in town. I expect he is in 
 some quiet neighborhood; still, if he is on the road, he 
 must have a horse somewhere. You might ask among 
 the stables, and find out whether anyone keeps a hors« 
 there who is in the habit of going out in the afternoon 
 and not coming back until the next day. You have plenty 
 
 170 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 171 
 
 of time upon your hands, and it would pay you well if you 
 could bring me the information I want." 
 
 The officer said to Mark at the end of two months: 
 " These knights of the road don't often mix themselves 
 up with the London housebreakers. The most likely men 
 to be able to tell you about the doings of such a fellow 
 would be receivers of stolen goods, but it would be 
 dangerous to question any of them — they would be sure 
 to put him on his guard. I will give you a list of some 
 of them, and I should say that your best way would be 
 to watch their places of an evening, from the time it gets 
 dark till ten or eleven. Of course, it is just a chance. 
 You may watch one place for a month and he may happen 
 to go there the very day you have gone off to watch 
 another crib. Still, there is just the chance, and I don't 
 see that there is one any other way." 
 
 During this time Mark had been taking a lesson every 
 evening with Needham, and had surprised his teacher 
 with the rapidity of his progress; he had said, the very 
 evening before, when Mark had countered him with a blow 
 that knocked him for two or three minutes senseless: 
 
 " "We have had enough of this, governor; you have got 
 beyond me altogether, and I don't want another blow like 
 that. You hacl better take on Gibbons now. You are 
 too big altogether for me, and yet you don't fight like a 
 heavyweight, for you are as quick on your pins as I am." 
 
 Well pleased at having the day to himself and of having 
 got clear of his work in the thieves' rookeries, Mark went 
 the next morning to Gibbons' shop. His entry was hailed 
 by a chorus of barking from dogs of all sorts and sizes, 
 from the bulldog down to the ratting terrier. 
 
 " Glad to see you, Mr. Thorndyke," Gibbons said, when 
 he had silenced the barking. " I saw Jack last week, and 
 he told me that he should hand you over to me pretty 
 soon, for that you were getting beyond him altogether, and 
 he thought that if you stuck to it you would give me all 
 my work to do in another six months." 
 
 " I finished with him last night, Gibbons, and I shall 
 be ready to come for a lesson to you every morning, some- 
 where about this hour. I have brought my bag with my 
 togs." 
 
172 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " All right, sir, I am ready at once; the place is clear 
 now behind. I have just been making it tidy, for we had a 
 little ratting last night, one of my dogs against Sir James 
 Collette's, fifty rats each; my dog beat him by three- 
 quarters of a minute." 
 
 " You will never see me here at one of those businesses. 
 I have no objection to stand up to a man my own size and 
 give and take until we have had enough, but to see rats 
 slaughtered when they have not a chance of making a fight 
 of it is altogether out of my line." 
 
 " Well, sir, I do not care about it myself; there are 
 lots who do like it, and are ready to wager their money on 
 it, and as it helps to sell my dogs, besides what I can win 
 out of the event — it was a wager of twenty guineas last 
 night — it aint for me to set myself up against it." 
 
 Calling a boy to look after the shop, Gibbons went away 
 into a wooden building in the back yard; it was about 
 twenty-five feet square, and there were holes in the floor 
 for the stakes, when a regular ring was made. The floor 
 was strewn with clean sawdust; a number of boxing-gloves 
 hung by the wall. 
 
 " There is the dressing room," Gibbons said, pointing 
 to a door at the other end. When both were ready he 
 looked Mark over. " Your muscles have thickened out a 
 good bit, sir, since I saw you strip. Before another four 
 years, if you keep on at it, you will be as big a man as 1 am. 
 I am about eight years too old, and you are four years too 
 young. You will improve every day, and I shan't. Now, 
 sir, let us see what you can do. Jack tells me that you 
 are wonderfully quick on your feet; there is the advantage 
 you have of me. I am as strong as ever I was, I think, 
 but I find that I cannot get about as I used to." 
 
 He stood somewhat carelessly at first, but as they 
 sparred for an opening he became more careful, and pres- 
 ently hit out sharply. Mark leaped back, and then, 
 springing forward, struck out with his left; Gibbons only 
 just stopped it and then countered, but Mark was out of 
 reach again. 
 
 " That is good enough," Gibbons said; " I can see Jack 
 has taught you pretty nearly all there is to know. We 
 will just take those hits again. You were right to get 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 173 
 
 away from the first, but the second time you should have 
 guarded with your left, and hit at my chin with your 
 right. That jumping-back game is first-rate for avoiding 
 punishment, but you have got to come in again to hit. 
 You took me by surprise that time, and nearly got home, 
 but you would not do it twice; " and so the lesson went on 
 for three-quarters of an hour. 
 
 " That will do for to-day, sir; I am getting blown, if you 
 are not. Well, I can tell you I have never had a more 
 promising pupil, and I have brought forward two or three 
 of the best men in the ring; no wonder that Jack cannot 
 do much with you. Give me six months, every day, and 
 you should have a turn occasionally with other men, and 
 I would back you for a hundred pounds against any man 
 now in the ring." 
 
 Three or four days later Mark received a message that 
 the chief wanted to speak with him that afternoon, and he 
 accordingly went down. 
 
 % "I've got a job for you, Mr. Thorndyke; it is just the 
 sort of thing that will suit you. There is a house in 
 Buckingham Street that we have had our eye on for some 
 time; it is a gambling house, but with that we have noth- 
 ing to do unless complaints are made, but we have had 
 several complaints of late. It is a well-got-up place, and 
 there are a good many men of title frequent it, but men 
 of title are not always more honest than other people; 
 anyhow, there are some rooks there, and several young 
 fellows of means have been pigeoned and ruined. They 
 are mighty particular who they let in, and there would be 
 very little chance of getting my regular men in there. 
 Now, you are a stranger in London, but you have friends 
 here, and no doubt you could get introduced. We want 
 to know if the play is fair; if it isn't, we would break the 
 place up altogether. We know enough to do it now; but 
 none of the poor beggars who have been ruined will come 
 forward, and, indeed, haven't any idea, I think, that they 
 have lost their money in anything but a run of bad luck. 
 
 " One young fellow blew his brains out last week, and 
 his father came here with a list of what are called debts 
 of honor, which he found in his room. There they are, 
 and the names of the men they are owed to; of course 
 
174 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 some of them have been fairly won, but I have a strong 
 suspicion that those I have marked with a cross have not 
 been. For instance, there is Sir James Flash, a fellow 
 who was turned out of White's two years ago for sharp 
 practice with cards; there is John Emerson, he is a man 
 of good family, but all his friends have given him up 
 long ago, and he has been living by his wits for the last 
 five years. The others marked are all of the same sort. 
 jSTow, what I want you to do is to become a frequenter 
 of the place; of course you will have to play a little, and 
 as you are a stranger I expect that they will let you win 
 for a bit; but if not the old gentleman has placed £200 in 
 my hands for the expenses." 
 
 " I could play with my own money," Mark said rather 
 warmly. 
 
 " You forget, Mr. Thorndyke," the chief said firmly, 
 " that at the present moment you are a member of my 
 force, and that you go to this place in that capacity, and 
 not as Squire of Crowswood; therefore you must, if you 
 please, do as I instruct you. The gentleman will be ready 
 to pay that sum. As you see, the amounts entered here 
 total up to nearly £10,000. He said that it will ruin him 
 to pay that sum, but that he must do so rather than his 
 son should be branded as a defaulter. I have advised 
 him to write to all these people saying that it will take 
 him some time to raise the money, but that he will see that 
 nobody shall be a loser by his son's debts. I have told 
 him in the meantime that I will endeavor to get proof that 
 the play was not fair, and in that case he would, of course, 
 refuse to pay any of the claims on that ground; and you 
 may be sure that if unfair play was proved none of those 
 concerned would dare to press their claims." 
 
 " Then my function would be simply to watch? " 
 
 " Yes, to watch, and to bring me word of anything 
 you may observe. You see, without making a public 
 scandal, if it could be found that a man was discovered 
 cheating, and the way in which he was doing it, one would 
 be able to put so strong a pressure on him, that not only 
 might he be forced to abstain from going to any club, but 
 would be frightened into giving up any I. O. XL's he might 
 hold." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 175 
 
 " I shall be glad to do the best I can, sir; but frankly I 
 know next to nothing of cards, and should have but little 
 chance of detecting anything that might be going on, 
 when it must be done so cleverly that experienced 
 gamblers, watching a man closely, fail to see anything 
 wrong." 
 
 " I quite understand that; but one of my men has made 
 a study of the various methods employed by gamblers to 
 cheat, and although it would take you years to learn how 
 to do it yourself, a few hours' instruction from him 
 would at least put you up to some of their methods, and 
 enable you to know where to look for cheating. The 
 man is now waiting in the next room, and if you will take 
 two or three hours daily with him, say for a week, you 
 ought to be able to detect the doings of these fellows when 
 to others everything seems right and aboveboard. You 
 may have no inclination for cards, but knowledge of that 
 sort is useful to anyone in society, here or anywhere else, 
 and may enable him either to save his own pocket or to do 
 a service to a friend." 
 
 Mark was greatly interested in the tricks the man 
 showed him. At first it seemed to him almost magical, 
 after he himself had shuffled the cards and cut them, the 
 dealer invariably turned up a king. Even admitting he 
 might have various places of concealment, pockets in the 
 lining of the sleeve, in the inside of the coat, and in 
 various other parts of the dress, in which cards could be 
 concealed and drawn out by silken threads, it did not seem 
 possible that this could be done with such quickness as to 
 be unobserved. It was only when his teacher showed him, 
 at first in the slowest manner, and then gradually increas- 
 ing his speed, that he perceived that what seemed impossi- 
 ble was easy enough when the necessary practice and skill 
 had been attained. The man was indeed an adept at a 
 great variety of tricks by which the unsuspecting could 
 be taken in. 
 
 " I ought to know," he said. " I was for three years in 
 a gambling house in Paris, where every other man was a 
 sharper. I have been in places of the same sort in Bel- 
 gium, Holland, Germany, and Italy. At first I was only a 
 boy waiter, and as until evening there was nothing doing 
 
176 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 at these places, men would sometimes amuse themselves 
 by teaching me tricks, easy ones to begin with, and when 
 they saw I was sharp and quick-handed they went on. 
 After a time I began to work as a confederate, and at last 
 on my own account; but I got disgusted with it at last. 
 A young fellow shot himself at the table of the gambling- 
 house at Home, and at another place I was nearly killed 
 by a man who had lost heavily — do you see, it has 
 left a broad scar right across my forehead? — so I gave 
 it up. 
 
 " I was in the French police for a time, and used to 
 watch some of the lower hells. I was nearly killed there 
 once of twice, and at last I came back here. My French 
 chief gave me a letter to the chief, and I was taken on at 
 once, for, talking as I do half a dozen languages, and being 
 acquainted with most of the swell mobsmen of Paris, I 
 was just the man who happened to be wanted here at the 
 time. Since I came over I have done a good deal in the 
 way of breaking up hells where sailors and others are 
 plundered. But, you see, I cannot be used for the higher 
 class of work; my nose has been broken, and I have half a 
 dozen scars on my face. I hate the sight of cards now. I 
 nave seen so much of the ruin they do, and have, I am 
 sorry to say, taken a hand so often in doing it, that save 
 showing someone who would use the knowledge in the 
 right way how the tricks are done, nothing would per- 
 suade me to touch them again. However, as a protection, 
 the knowledge is as useful as it is dangerous when used 
 the other way. It would take you ten years to learn to 
 do these tricks yourself so well as to defy detection; but in 
 a very short time, by learning where to keep your eyes, 
 you would get to detect almost any of them. 
 
 " You see, there are three methods of cheating: the 
 first by hidden cards, the second by marked cards, the 
 third simply by sleight of hand, this being generally used 
 in connection with marked cards. These tricks require 
 great skill and extreme delicacy of touch, for the marks, 
 which are generally at the edge of the cards, are so slight 
 as to be altogether imperceptible save to a trained hand. 
 There are also marks on the back of the cards; these are 
 done in the printing, and are so slight that, unless atten- 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. Vtf 
 
 tion were attracted to them, no one would dream of theii* 
 existence." 
 
 In the course of a week's practice Mark learned where 
 to look for cheating; he could not indeed follow the fingers' 
 of his instructor, for even when he knew what was goinv; 
 to be done, the movements were so rapid that his eye 
 could not follow them, and in nine cases out of ten he was; 
 unable to say whether the coup had been accomplished or 
 not; but he could see that there was a slight movement of 
 the fingers that could only mean that something was being 
 done. 
 
 " It would be a good thing," he said one day, " if every 
 young fellow before going out into the world were to have 
 a course of such instruction as you are giving me; he 
 would learn, at least, the absolute folly of sitting down 
 to play cards with strangers. He would see that he could 
 be robbed in fifty different ways, and would be at the 
 absolute mercy of any sharper. I never had any inclina- 
 tion for gambling, but if I had been inclined that way you 
 would have cured me of the passion for life." 
 
 The week's instruction was lengthened to a fortnight, 
 and at the end of that time Mark went to Dick Chetwynd. 
 
 " Do you know, Dick," he said, " a gambling place in 
 Buckingham Street? " 
 
 " I know that there is a hell there, Mark, but I have 
 never been in it. Why do you ask? " 
 
 " I have rather a fancy to go there," he replied. " I 
 hear that, although a good many men of fashion haunt the 
 place, the crowd is rather a mixed one." 
 
 " It has a bad name, Mark; I have heard some queer 
 reports about it." 
 
 " Yes, so have I. I should think that it is a very likely 
 place for a man like Bastow to go to if he has any liking 
 for play. Of course he would get up as a gentleman. At 
 any rate, I have been making what inquiries I can in some 
 of the thieves' quarters, and have come to the conclusion 
 that he is not likely to have taken up his abode there, and 
 I don't think I can do better than make a round of some 
 of these doubtful houses. I should like to begin with this, 
 and then work downwards." 
 
 " Well, I dare say I could manage it, Mark; I know 
 
178 COLONEL THORNDfKE'S SECRET. 
 
 half a dozen men who play there; they say there is more 
 fun and excitement to be got than at White's or Crock- 
 ford's, or any of those places. Some men, of course, play 
 high, but a good many who go there only risk a few 
 guineas; some go because it is the proper thing at present 
 for a man about town either to play or to bet on horses 
 or cock-fights, or to patronize the ring; and, after all, it 
 is easier to stroll for an hour or two of an evening into 
 comfortable rooms, where you meet a lively set and there 
 is champagne always going, than it is to attend races or 
 prizefights." 
 
 Very few days passed that Mark did not go in for half 
 an hour's chat with his friend, and two days after this 
 conversation Dick said: 
 
 " By the way, Mark, I have arranged for us to go to that 
 hell to-night; young Boldero, who is a member of my club, 
 told me some time ago that he played there sometimes. 
 I met him yesterday evening, and said that I had a fancy 
 to go and have a look at it, and that a friend of mine from 
 the country also wanted to go; he said at once that he 
 would take us there. 
 
 " ' I should advise you not to play much, Chetwynd/ he 
 said; ' sometimes they play uncommonly high, and there 
 are some fellows who have wonderful luck. Of course, 
 on ordinary occasions, when the play is low, you could 
 stake a few guineas there as well as elsewhere, but when 
 really high play is on we small fish always stand out. All 
 I can say is that I have never seen anything that savors 
 ■of foul play in the smallest degree; but j^ou understand 
 how it is, if one man happens to have a big run of luck, 
 there are always fellows who go about hinting that there 
 is something wrong in it. However, it is a jolly place to 
 drop into, and of course there is no occasion to play 
 always, and if one loses one is likely to win on the nest 
 race or on the next fight.' " 
 
 Accordingly that evening Mark met Boldero, whom he 
 had once or twice before seen in Dick's company, and the 
 three went together to the house in Buckingham Street. 
 Boldero nodded to the doorkeeper as he went in, and they 
 then proceeded upstairs and entered a handsome room 
 with comfortable sofas and chairs, on which a dozen men 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 179' 
 
 were seated, for the most part smoking. Several cham- 
 pagne bottles stood on the tables, and all who liked helped, 
 themselves. Boldero was known to several of those pres- 
 ent, while two or three were also known to Dick. Boldero 
 introduced them both to his friends. One of these was 
 the Hon. John Emerson, a man of some five-and-thirty, 
 with a languid air and a slight drawl. 
 
 " Glad to make your acquaintance, sir," he said to Mark. 
 " Have you been long in town ? " 
 
 " Two or three months only," Mark replied. 
 
 " Is this your first visit here? " 
 
 " Yes, this is my first visit to any place of the sort, but 
 I thought that I should like to go the rounds before I went 
 home again." 
 
 " Quite so. Going to punt a few guineas, I suppose? " 
 
 '*' Yes, I suppose that is the right thing to do." 
 
 " Well, everyone who comes is expected to do a little 
 that way; there is no occasion to play high." 
 
 " Oh, I should not like to do that," Mark said inno- 
 cently; " indeed, I know very little about cards." 
 
 " Oh, that is quite immaterial so long as you only play 
 games of chance; in fact, you don't want to know anything 
 about them. You see others staking their money, some 
 on one side of the table, and some on the other; you place? 
 your money whichever side you like, and take your chance. 
 There is no skill in it. Some people play on what they 
 call a system, but there is nothing in it; you have just as 
 much chance if you put your money down blindfolded. If 
 hick is with you, you win; if luck is against you, you lose." 
 
 After chatting for a few minutes Mark went with his 
 two companions upstairs. The room they now entered 
 was furnished as a drawing room, except that in the 
 middle was a table, round which some fifteen people were 
 Beated, while as many more looked on; round the room 
 Were several small tables, on which were packs of cards. 
 These were for those who preferred to play piquet or 
 /•carte, two or three couples being so engaged. Mark 
 knew enough of cards to know that hazard was being 
 played at the large table. There was an inner room, and 
 Murk strolled across and looked in. It was at present 
 untenanted; it contained a center table capable of holding 
 
,80 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 four, and two or three small ones, with two chairs set in 
 readiness to each. 
 
 " That is where the heavy play goes on," Boldero said. 
 " None of your four or five guineas wagers there, fifties 
 and hundreds are nearer the mark, and I have seen a thou- 
 sand wagered many a time. It is exciting work even 
 looking on, I can tell you; what it must be for the players 
 I cannot say, but I should think it must be frightful." 
 
 Mark took up his stand at the hazard table, and after 
 looking on for some little time began to play. Beginning 
 with guineas, he gradually, as luck favored him, played 
 five guineas, and after half-an-hour's play won fifty. Then 
 luck turned, and in a few minutes he had lost all he won. 
 
 " You ought to have stopped, Mark," Dick said re- 
 proachfully, as he stepped back from his place, which was 
 at once filled by one who had been standing behind him. 
 
 The play in the inner room had now begun, and Mark 
 went in and joined those who were looking on. In half 
 an hour one of the players had had enough, and a young 
 man said to Emerson, who was standing on the other side 
 of the table: 
 
 " Now, Mr. Emerson, will you give me my revenge? " 
 
 " I would really rather not, Mr. Cotter. The luck has- 
 been so one-sided lately that I would rather leave it 
 alone." 
 
 "But it may turn to-night/' the other said. "At any 
 rate, I will try it, if you have no objection." 
 
 There was a certain eagerness in the young man's voice 
 that caused Mark to watch him closely. He was a good- 
 looking young fellow, but his face was not a strong one; 
 and although he evidently tried to assume an appearance 
 of indifference as he sat down, there was a nervous 
 movement of his fingers. Mark took his place behind him 
 as play began. The game was ecarte, and for a time 
 ICmerson lost. 
 
 " I think the luck has changed, Mr. Cotter, but as we 
 generally raise the stakes after playing for a bit, I am 
 ready to do so. Shall we make it fifty pounds again? " 
 
 " With pleasure," the young man said. 
 
 He won the next two games, then for some time they 
 won alternatelv. 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 181 
 
 ** Shall we say a hundred again? " he said. 
 
 " As you like," Emerson replied. " We don't seem to 
 get much forwarder either way at present." 
 
 A considerable number of lookers-on had now gathered 
 round. So far Mark, although watching the fingers of 
 the opposite player intently, had seen no sign whatever 
 of unfair play. He now redoubled his attention. Cotter 
 won the first game, his adversary the three next. Mark 
 noticed now that after looking at his hand Emerson looked 
 abstractedly, as if meditating before taking the next step; 
 there was no expression in his face, but Mark fancied that 
 his eyes rested for a moment on the man standing next to 
 himself. He looked at his watch, and then, as if finding 
 the hour later than he had expected, moved away from his 
 place, and presently joined Dick, who was standing witk 
 Boldero on the other side of the table. 
 
 " Who is that man playing with Emerson? " he asked in 
 a whisper. 
 
 " He is the son of Cotter, the head of Cotter's Bank, in 
 Lombard Street." 
 
 As the men were standing two or three deep round the 
 table, Mark could not see the table itself, but this mattered 
 little, for his attention was entirely directed towards thu 
 man standing behind Cotter's chair. He saw that after 
 glancing down at the young man's hand he looked across 
 as if seeing what Emerson was going to do; sometimes his 
 eyes dropped for an instant, at other times there was no 
 such movement, and after noticing this four or five times, 
 and noticing the course Emerson took, he had no doubt 
 whatever in his own mind that the movement of the man's 
 eyes was an intimation to Emerson of the nature of Cot- 
 ter's hand. The young man had lost four games in suc- 
 cession; he had grown very pale, but showed no other signs 
 of agitation. Presently he said: 
 
 ' You have your usual luck again; I will only play one 
 more game to-night, but we may as well make it worth 
 playing. Shall we say five hundred ? " 
 ' At your service," Emerson replied. 
 
 This time the face of the man standing behind Cotter's 
 chair was immovable, and Mark, placing himself behind a 
 short man and spraining his head forward, saw that Cotter 
 
182 COLONEL THORNDYKE' S SECRET. 
 
 scored four. The next time there was still no sign. 
 Emerson showed a king and scored it, and then won every 
 trick and the game. 
 
 " That makes nine hundred pounds," the young man 
 said quietly, writing an I. 0. U. for that amount and hand- 
 ing it to Emerson. There was a general movement of the 
 spectators, and two fresh players took the seats vacated 
 by the late antagonists. 
 
 "Who was the man standing behind Cotter's chair? " 
 Mark asked Boldero. 
 
 " That is Sir James Flash. He is just going to play, 
 you see; it is sure to be another hot game, and an interest- 
 ing one." 
 
 " Well, I think I will go," Mark said; " the heat of the 
 room has given me a bit of a headache. I will see you to- 
 morrow, Dick." 
 
 " Good-night, old man," Chetwynd said; and, shaking 
 hands with Boldero, Mark went downstairs immediately 
 after Cotter. The latter went into the room below, drank 
 -off a tumbler of champagne, and then went down, took 
 his hat, and went out. Mark followed him for a short 
 distance, and joined him as soon as he got up into the 
 Strand. 
 
 " Mr. Cotter," he said, " I have not the pleasure of 
 knowing you personally, and I must introduce myself. My 
 name is Mark Thorndyke, and I am the owner of an 
 estate close to Beigate. Would you mind my exchanging 
 a few words with you ? " 
 
 Cotter looked up, and was about to give a flat refusal, 
 but the expression of Mark's face was so friendly and 
 pleasant that he changed his mind and said in a hard 
 voice: 
 
 " I really do not know what you can have to say to me, 
 Mr. Thorndyke, but of course I can hardly refuse to hear 
 you." 
 
 They walked across the road and turned up a quiet 
 street. 
 
 " For certain reasons it is not necessary for me to ex- 
 plain," Mark said, " I went to that place for the first time 
 to-night, and I watched the play between you and Mr, 
 Emerson." 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'8 SECRET. 183 
 
 " It does not matter, sir; I lost, and I am not going 1 
 there again." 
 
 " I hope, on the contrary, that you will go there again, 
 Mr. Cotter. If I mistake not, from what I heard, you 
 have lost considerable sums to that man." 
 
 " I imagine, sir, that that is no business of a stranger." 
 
 " In no way personally," Mark replied, not heeding the 
 angry ring in the voice, "but as an honest man it does 
 concern me. I am absolutely convinced, sir, that that 
 money has not been won from you fairly." 
 
 The young man gave a start. 
 
 "Impossible!" he said shortly. "Mr. Emerson is a 
 man of good family and a gentleman." 
 
 " He is a man of good family, I admit, but certainly not 
 a gentleman; his antecedents are notorious." 
 
 " I have never heard a word against him; he is inti- 
 mate with Sir James Flash and other gentlemen of po- 
 sition." 
 
 " I am not surprised that you have not heard of it; it 
 was probably to the interest of several persons that you 
 should not do so. Nor do I suppose that you are aware 
 that Sir James Flash was himself expelled from White's 
 for cheating at cards." 
 
 " Impossible! " Mr. Cotter replied. 
 
 " I can assure you of the fact," Mark said quietly. 
 "Probably you have among your acquaintances some 
 members of White's. I am sure if you ask them they will 
 confirm the fact. Now, sir, I can assure you that I have 
 no interest m this matter, save to prevent a gentleman 
 from being ruined by blacklegs. May I ask how much 
 you owe to Mr. Emerson and Sir James Flash?" 
 
 The young man hesitated. 
 
 " I believe you, sir," he said at last. " They hold my 
 I. 0. U.'s for £29,000. I need hardly say it is absolute 
 ruin. My intention is to make a clean breast to my father 
 about it to-morrow morning. My father will give me the 
 money, in the first place because he loves me and would 
 save my name from disgrace, and in the second because 
 were I posted as a defaulter it would strike a severe blow 
 at the credit of the bank. So he will give me the money, 
 but he will bid me leave his house forever. That will 
 
184 ' COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 matter little, for I shall pay the money, and to-morrow 
 night I shall blow out my brains." 
 
 " Well, sir, if you will follow my advice you will neither 
 pay the money nor blow out your brains. I saw enough 
 to-night to feel absolutely certain that you have been 
 cheated. Sir James Flash stood behind you, and was, I 
 am sure, signaling your hand to Emerson. I believe that 
 Emerson played fair otherwise, until the last game, but I 
 am convinced that he then cheated. You had good hands, 
 but he had better; and although I did not see him cheat — 
 for I was on the other side of the table — I am convinced 
 that he did so. Now, sir, I advise you to go in as usual 
 to-morrow evening, and to play, raising your stakes as you 
 did to-night. When the times comes I will expose him. 
 Should I not be able to detect him we must try another 
 night. I am so much convinced that this is the case, and 
 that I shall succeed, that whether you play one night or 
 three I will guarantee that you shall be no loser, but will, 
 <m the honor of a gentleman, place in your hands the 
 amount of your losses; so that you will not have to ask 
 your father for a check larger than you would do if you 
 confessed to him to-morrow morning. I only ask in re- 
 turn that you, on your part, will give me your word of 
 honor that you will never touch a card again after you 
 rise from the table." 
 
 " I cannot accept so generous an offer from a stranger," 
 Cotter said in a low tone. 
 
 " I do not think that it is generous," Mark replied 
 quietly, "because I am perfectly convinced that I shall 
 not have to pay at all. Have you any other I. 0. XL's 
 out?" 
 
 " I have given them for about £5000, but that is not in 
 addition to the £29,000. Emerson told me that as he 
 knew that I should have difficulty in paying them at the 
 present moment, he had taken them up, and held them 
 with his own." 
 
 " Will you give me the names of the persons to whom 
 you gave them in the first place? " 
 
 " Certainly; " and he mentioned three names, all of 
 which stood with a black cross against them on Mark's 
 list. 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 185 
 
 " Thank you. Then you will go to-morrow night 
 
 again ? " 
 
 " Yes; and I swear to you that I will never touch a card 
 afterwards." 
 
 " I don't think that you need fear," Mark said. " I 
 have not been long in London, but I happen to have been 
 shown a good many of the tricks that these blacklegs 
 play on greenhorns, which will account for my having 
 noticed what has never been observed by the honest por- 
 tion of the men who frequent the place. Now I will say 
 good-night, sir. I shall be behind your chair or his to- 
 morrow night." 
 
 " I don't know what to say," Cotter said hesitatingly. 
 
 " There is no occasion to say anything; it is the duty of 
 every honest man to interfere if he sees another honest 
 man being robbed, arid that is my sole object in this mat- 
 ter. Good-night; " and turning round, he walked rapidly 
 away. 
 
CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 The next morning, before going round to Gibbons', 
 
 Mark saw his chief and told him of what had taken place 
 on the previous evening. 
 
 " I certainly did not think that you would succeed so 
 soon; you believe that you will be able fairly to expose 
 these fellows? " 
 
 " I have no doubt whatever that I shall be able to expose 
 one of them; and I have equally no doubt that if the others 
 are arrested, either false cards or pockets for cards will be 
 found upon them. What do you wish me to do, sir? I 
 can, of course, expose any fellow I catch at it, but can do 
 nothing about the others." 
 
 " I must have more than one captured," the chief said. 
 " At even the most irreproachable club there may be one 
 blackleg, but if it is clear that this place is the haunt of 
 blacklegs we can break it. There are half a dozen Acts 
 that apply; there is the 11th Act of Henry VIII., statute 
 33, cap. 9, which prohibits the keeping of any common 
 house for dice, cards, or any unlawful game. That has 
 never been repealed, except that gaming-houses were 
 licensed in 1620. What is more to the point is that five 
 Acts of George II., the 9th, 12th, 13th, 18th, and 30th, 
 impose penalties upon the keepers of public-houses for 
 permitting gambling, and lay heavy penalties upon hazard, 
 roulette, and other gambling games, on the keepers of 
 gamb]ing-houses and those who play there. Having re- 
 ceived complaints of several young men being rooked in 
 the place, we can, if we prove that some of its frequent- 
 ers are blacklegs, shut the place up altogether. We should 
 do it quietly, and without fuss, if possible; but if we shut 
 it up several others of the same sort will be certain to 
 close their doors. But mind, there will probably be a des- 
 perate row, and you had better take pistols with you. I 
 will have four men close at hand from ten o'clock till the 
 
 186 
 
COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 187 
 
 time the place closes, and if they hear a scrimmage, or 
 you fire a pistol out of the window, they will rush in and 
 seize all engaged in the row, and march them to the lock- 
 up. Of course you will have to be included." 
 
 Mark then went to Chetwynd. 
 
 " Well, what did you think of it last night? " 
 
 " Well, I own that it went against my grain to see that 
 young fellow being victimized by a sharper." 
 
 " My dear Mark, you must not use such language as 
 that. I fancy from what I have heard that the Honorable 
 John is not altogether an estimable character, but to call 
 him a sharper is going too far altogether." 
 
 " I don't think that it is, for from what I saw last night 
 I am pretty well convinced that he did not play fair. I 
 mean to go again to-night." 
 
 " But why on earth should you mix yourself up in such 
 an affair, Mark? It is no business of yours; you are not 
 an habitue of the place. Above all, it is extremely unlikely 
 that you are right. There were some shady people there, 
 no doubt, but there were also a good many gentlemen 
 present, and as you know nothing of cards, as far as I 
 know, it is the most unlikely thing in the world that you 
 should find out that Emerson cheated when no one else 
 noticed it." 
 
 " It is my business; it is the duty of every honest man 
 to see that a poor lad like that should not be eaten up 
 by a shark like Emerson. I don't care if there is a shindy 
 over it. I shall not interfere unless I can prove that the 
 man is cheating, in which case no man of honor would 
 go out with him. I shall be glad if you and Boldero 
 would go with me again this evening. I am not known 
 there, and you are to a good many men, and Boldero to 
 many more. I only want that, if I get into a row, you 
 should testify to the fact that I am a gentleman, and 
 ordinarily sane. If there is a row you will have an 
 opportunity of seeing how much I have benefited by my 
 
 'IIS." 
 
 ' Yes, I heard you were making tremendous progress. 
 Jack Needham told me a month ago that you had knocked 
 him out of time, and I went into Gibbons' yesterday 
 morning with a man who wanted to buy a dog, and he told 
 
188 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 me that he considered that it was a great misfortune that 
 you were an amateur, for that you only required another 
 six months' practice, and he would then be ready to back 
 you for a hundred pounds against any man in the ring. 
 But about this affair, Mark. Are you really in earnest? " 
 
 " I am, Dick, thoroughly in earnest; so would you be if 
 you had spoken to Cotter last night, as I did. I tell you 
 that if I had not given him a little hope that the thing 
 might come out right, he would have blown out his brains 
 to-day." 
 
 " Well, Mark, if you have set your mind on it, of course 
 I will stick to you, though I have some doubts whether 
 Cotter has any brains to speak of to blow out, else he 
 would not be mad enough to back himself against Emer- 
 son and other men whom Boldero tells me he has been 
 playing with." 
 
 " He has made an ass of himself, no doubt, Dick; but I 
 fancy a good many fellows do that at one time or other 
 of their lives, though not, I grant, always in the same 
 way." 
 
 " Well, I will go, Mark. I need not ask Boldero, for he 
 told me that he should look in again at ten o'clock this 
 evening, for he thought that another night's play would 
 probably bring Cotter to the end of his tether." 
 
 Accordingly a little before ten they walked into the 
 gambling-house together. 
 
 " ISTow, Dick, I want you, as soon as you sit down, to 
 take your place in the front line within a yard or two of 
 Emerson. I don't want you to be just behind him, but a 
 short distance away; and I want you to keep your eye 
 upon Sir James Flash, who, if I am not mistaken, will 
 take up the same position that he did last night, near 
 enough to Cotter to see his hand. You will remark, I 
 have no doubt, as I did last night, that whenever Cotter 
 has a bad hand, Flash will either close his eyes, or put his 
 hand up to his mouth and stroke his mustache, or make 
 some sign of that sort. When Cotter has a good hand he 
 will stand perfectly still or look about the room. At any 
 rate, he will make no sign — that, of course, is a guide to 
 Emerson whether to propose or to refuse to allow Cotter 
 to do so. I need not point out to you what a tremendous 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 189 
 
 advantage the knowledge whether an opponent's hand is 
 good or not gives him. Of course, while watching an 
 hour's play I can only know that Flash was making signs, 
 and that when he did so Cotter's hand was a bad one. It 
 is possible that the manner in which the sign was made, 
 either by closing his eye or twisting his mustache, or so 
 on, may have been an intimation as to the suit in which 
 Cotter was strongest or weakest." 
 
 " By Jove, this is a serious thing, Mark." 
 
 " It is a serious thing. I don't want you to get into a 
 row with the fellow. I should like you to give me a nod 
 when you have satisfied yourself that I was not mistaken. 
 I will take upon myself to denounce the fellow, and to say 
 what I noticed yesterday, and you can back me up by say- 
 ing that you saw the same thing. I have no doubt that I 
 shall be able to convince every decent man there that my 
 charge is well founded. I am going to watch Emerson. 
 With the help he gets from Flash, he won't risk anything 
 by cheating until it comes to a big stake like the last 
 game yesterday, in which case, if Cotter's hand happens 
 to be a strong one, he is likely to do so, and I fancy if he 
 does I shall be able to catch him at it. You had better 
 keep Boldero near you. You can whisper to him what you 
 are watching Flash for, and get him to do so too; as, if I 
 catch Emerson cheating, there is likely to be a row; he can 
 lend a hand if necessary, and, at any rate, his joining in 
 with you will suffice to show his friends that the thing is 
 genuine." 
 
 " All right, Mark. I am interested in the matter now, 
 and am ready for anything." 
 
 Soon after ten Cotter and Emerson again sat down, and, 
 as usual, a lot of spectators gathered round the table. The 
 game resembled the one on the previous evening. Mark 
 placed himself by the side of Cotter, a stranger stood 
 immediately behind his chair, another member of the club 
 was on the other side, and Sir James Flash stood partly 
 behind him, so that although somewhat in the background 
 he could obtain a view between their heads of Cotter's 
 cards. Mark saw to his satisfaction that Dick and Boldero 
 had secured the exact position that he wished them to 
 take. For the first few games the play was even, and 
 
190 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Dick began to think that Mark had been mistaken, for 
 Flash appeared to take little interest in the game, and 
 made no sign how Emerson should proceed. 
 
 As soon as the stake rose to a hundred again he dis- 
 tinctly saw Flash close his eyes and play with his mus- 
 tache; he called Boldero's attention to the fact, and found 
 the latter, who had also been watching, had noticed it. 
 By the time a few games had been played he verified 
 Mark's assertion that these signs were signals that Cot- 
 ter's hand was a bad one, and in each case Emerson played 
 without giving his opponent the opportunity of discarding 
 and taking in fresh cards. He and Dick nodded quietly 
 to Mark, who had satisfied himself that so far Emerson 
 had not cheated in any other way. As on the previous 
 evening, Cotter, after losing five or six hundred pounds, 
 proposed a final game of five hundred. Mark bent down 
 his head, so that the intentness of his gaze should not be 
 noticed, but from under his eyebrows he watched Emer- 
 son's every movement; suddenly he placed a foot on the 
 edge of the chair of the man sitting in front of him, and 
 with a sudden spring leaped upon the table, seized Emer- 
 son's hand, and held it up to the full length of his arm. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he shouted, " this fellow is cheating; 
 there is a card in his hand which he has just brought from 
 under the table." 
 
 In a moment there was a dead silence of surprise; then 
 Mark forced the hand open and took Emerson's card, 
 which he held up. 
 
 " There, you see, gentleman; it is a king." 
 
 Then a Babel of sounds arose, a dozen hands were laid 
 upon Emerson, who was pulled back from his chair and 
 thrown down on a sofa, while hands were run over his 
 coat, waistcoat, and breeches. 
 
 " Here they are ! " a man shouted, and held a dozen 
 cards over his head. 
 
 The place of concealment had been cleverly chosen; the 
 breeches apparently buttoned closely at the knee, but in 
 reality they were loose enough to enable a finger and 
 thumb to be passed between them and the stocking, and 
 in the lining of the breeches was a pocket in which the 
 cards had been placed, being held there by two pieces of 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 191 
 
 whalebone, that closed the pocket. The searchers, among 
 whom were Dick and Boldero, did not have it all their own 
 way; four or five men rushed upon them, and endeavored 
 to pull them off Emerson. The din of voices was pro- 
 digious, but Mark, still standing on the table, stilled it 
 for a moment by shouting: 
 
 " The scoundrel has an accomplice, who this evening 
 and yesterday has been signaling the strength of the 
 cards in Mr. Cotter's hands." 
 
 " Who is he? " was shouted over the room. 
 
 " It is Sir James Flash," Mark said. " I denounce him 
 as a cheat and a sharper." 
 
 As pale as death. Flash rushed to the table. 
 
 " I don't know who you are, sir," he said, in a tone of 
 concentrated rage, " but you are a liar, and you shall 
 answer for this in the morning." 
 
 " I will answer to any gentleman that calls me to 
 account," Mark said, in a ringing voice, " but I don't meet 
 a man who has been expelled from White's for cheating, 
 and who I have no doubt is well stocked with cards at the 
 present moment, in readiness for the victim that he is 
 next going to meet after the plucking of Mr. Cotter has 
 been done. Now, gentlemen, search him and see if I am 
 wrong; if I am I will apologize for that part of my accusa- 
 tion." 
 
 Flash drew a pistol from his pocket, but in an instant 
 his arm was seized by those standing round him, and it 
 exploded harmlessly. Among those who seized Flash was 
 the man who had played with him the previous evening. 
 In spite of his struggles and curses, and the efforts of his 
 friends to rescue him, he too was thrown down and eight 
 court cards were found concealed in his sleeve. The 
 uproar while this was going on had been tremendous, but 
 it was suddenly stilled as four men in dark clothes entered 
 the room. Each held in his hand the well-known symbol 
 of his office, the little ebony staff surmounted by a silver 
 crown. 
 
 " I arrest all present in the name of the king," one 
 .''aid, " for breaking the laws against gambling, and for 
 brawling and the use of firearms. Now, gentlemen, re- 
 sistance is useless; I must request that you each give me 
 
192 COLONEL THORNDYKE 'S SECRET, 
 
 your card, and your word of honor that you will appear 
 at Bow Street to-morrow morning." 
 
 " What is all this about, sir? " he asked Mark, who was 
 still standing on the table. 
 
 " Two fellows here have been caught cheating." 
 
 " What is your name and address, sir? " 
 
 " My name is Mark Thorndyke, and I am a landed 
 gentleman at Eeigate; my friends Mr. Chetwynd and Mr. 
 Boldero will bear this out." 
 
 " Who are the two men? " the constable asked. 
 
 " The two fellows with torn clothes," Mark said. 
 " They are Mr. Emerson and Sir James Flash." 
 
 " You are certain of the charge that you are making? " 
 
 " Quite certain; the cards have been found hidden upoa 
 them." 
 
 " Yes, yes! " a score of voices shouted; " they have been: 
 caught in the act of cheating." 
 
 " Take those two men into custody," the constable said 
 to two of his companions. 
 
 " Who fired that pistol ? " he went on. 
 
 A number of voices shouted: 
 
 " Sir James Flash; he attempted to murder Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke." 
 
 The constable nodded to the man who had laid his hands 
 on Sir James Flash, and in a moment a pair of handcuffs 
 closed on his wrists. 
 
 " You shall repent this! " Flash exclaimed furiously. 
 
 " Calm yourself, Sir James," the constable said calmly. 
 " We know our duty, and do it whether a man is a peer or 
 a peasant; you are accused of card-sharping and an 
 attempted murder." 
 
 "What is your address in town, Mr. Thorndyke?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " 18 Villiers Street." 
 
 " Is there any charge against anyone else here? A good 
 many of you seem to have your clothes torn and dis- 
 arranged." 
 
 " Some fellows attempted to rescue Emerson and Flash 
 while we were searching them; for what reason we can all 
 pretty well imagine." 
 
 " I shall require the names in the morning of your 
 
COLONEL THORND TEE'S SECRET. 193 
 
 assailants," the constable said; " it looks very much as if 
 they were confederates of the two prisoners. Now, gentle- 
 men, you can all leave. This house is closed, and will not 
 be opened again until this affair is thoroughly investi- 
 gated." 
 
 In five minutes the house was deserted. 
 
 " How can I thank you, Mr. Thorndyke?" Cotter, who 
 was one of those who had seized Mash's arm, diverted his 
 aim and searched him, said, when they got outside the 
 house. " You have saved my life. It did not seem 
 possible to me that you could succeed in showing that I 
 was being cheated, and I had firmly resolved that, instead 
 of allowing you to suffer loss, I would to-morrow morning 
 make a clean breast of the whole affair to my father, as I 
 had intended to have done this morning." 
 
 " If I might advise you, Mr. Cotter, I should say, carry 
 out your intention as far as making a clean breast of it is 
 concerned. Happily, you are free from debt, as those 
 I. 0. XL's are worthless, for they were obtained from you 
 by cheating, therefore you have no demand to make upon 
 his purse. The police will, I have no doubt, endeavor to 
 keep this thing quiet, but your name may come out, and it 
 would be far better that your father should hear this story 
 from you than elsewhere; and your assurance that you will 
 never touch a card again, and the heavy lesson that you 
 have had, will doubtless induce him to look at the matter 
 leniently. It will, no doubt, be a painful story to tell, but 
 it will be far better told by you." 
 
 " 1 will do it, sir; as you say, the lesson has been a 
 heavy one, and henceforth my father shall have no reason 
 to complain of me. May I call and see you to-morrow 
 evening? " 
 
 " Certainly. I shall be at home from seven to eight, 
 after which hour I have an engagement. Good-night." 
 
 < otter walked on, and Mark fell back, and joined Dick 
 and Boklero, who had fallen behind when they saw him 
 speaking to Cotter. 
 
 a Well, Mark, I congratulate you," Dick Chetwynd said. 
 " You did it wonderfully, though how on earth you knew 
 that fellow had a card in his hand is more than I can 
 guess." 
 
194 COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " I felt sure he was going to cheat," Mark said quietly; 
 " I saw that Cotter's hand was a very strong one, and 
 knew that Emerson would be aware that it was so, because 
 he would receive no signal from Flash, therefore this was 
 the time, if any, that he would cheat. He had been play- 
 ing with both hands upon the table. I saw him withdraw 
 one, there was a little pause, and then it came up again, 
 and I had not a doubt in the world that there was a card 
 in it, and that it had been hidden somewhere in his 
 breeches, which is one of the best places of concealment, 
 for his hand being under the table while getting at the 
 card, no one present who was not behind the scenes, as I 
 was, could detect him doing it." 
 
 " The wonder to me is," Boldero said, " that while there 
 were a number of men looking on closely, for Emerson 
 has long been suspected of not playing fair, you, just 
 fresh from the country, if I may say so, should have 
 spotted him." 
 
 " That is easily explained," Mark said. " Not wishing 
 to fall a victim, I have of late been put up to a great many 
 of these sharpers' tricks by a man who at one time had 
 been in the trade himself." 
 
 " That was a capital idea, Mark," Dick said. " I wish 
 you would introduce me to him." 
 
 " I won't do that, Dick, but I shall be very glad to teach 
 you all T know myself about it; but I fancy that after this 
 you will be in no great hurry to enter a gambling-hell 
 again." 
 
 " That is so, Mark. I have never had any great inclina- 
 tion for play; but after this you may be quite sure that I 
 will fight shy of cards altogether. Still, I shall be glad if 
 you will put me up to some of these tricks, for I may be 
 able to some day save a victim of card-sharpers, as you 
 have done this evening." 
 
 The next morning, when those who had been present at 
 the scene of the previous evening arrived at the office 
 of the detectives in Bow Street, they were shown into' 
 some private rooms, and asked to wait. Cotter, Mark, 
 and his two friends first had an interview with the 
 chief. 
 
 " You will understand," the latter said, " that this is an 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 195 
 
 altogether informal affair. I propose you first tell me 
 your story as briefly as possible." 
 
 This was done. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Cotter, I take it that you do not wish to 
 prosecute?" 
 
 " Certainly not. I would, in fact, give anything rather 
 than appear in it." 
 
 " You have said that, in addition to the I. 0. U.'s that 
 you have given to the two men caught cheating, they hold 
 others to the amount of some five or six thousand pounds, 
 given by you to three other frequenters of the club. In 
 fact, these papers have been found in Emerson's pocket- 
 book; he told you, I believe, that he had taken them up, 
 so that you should not be inconvenienced by them. I 
 understand, then, that you will be quite content if you get 
 these I. 0. U.'s back again; those given to Emerson and 
 Flash are, of course, worthless. After what has happened, 
 they could not be presented, but probably you might have 
 trouble about the others, for, though I have no doubt that 
 the whole of the men were in league together, we have no 
 means of absolutely proving it." 
 
 " I shall be more than content, sir; I have no wish to 
 prosecute." 
 
 " We are glad," the chief said, " to be able to close a 
 dangerous place; and as the exposure will put a stop to 
 the career of these two men, and no doubt alarm a good 
 many others, we don't care about taking the matter into 
 court. Such gross scandals as this are best kept quiet, 
 when there is no object in ventilating them. Therefore, 
 gentlemen, as Mr. Cotter is willing to do so, we shall let 
 the matter drop. I shall be obliged if you will step into 
 the next room, however, until I have seen these three 
 men." 
 
 When they had left, the three were brought in. 
 
 :c You have been concerned, sirs," the chief said sternly, 
 ■' in winning large sums of money from the Hon. William 
 Denton, from Mr. James Carew, from Mr. William Hob- 
 BOn, and others; in all of these cases the two men caught 
 cheating last night wore also concerned. You all hold 
 notes of hand of Mr. Hobson. I shall advise that gentle- 
 man's father to refuse to pay those notes, and promise 
 
196 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 him that if any further request for payment is made I 
 will furnish him with such particulars for publication as 
 will more than justify him in the eyes of the world in 
 refusing to honor them. You, as well as Mr. Emerson 
 and Sir James Flash, have won large sums from Mr. Cot- 
 ter, and the fact that the I. 0. U.'s he gave you were found 
 on Mr. Emerson points very strongly to their being in 
 confederacy with you in the matter; at any rate, they point 
 so strongly that, whether a jury would convict or not on 
 the evidence that we shall be able to lay before them, there 
 can be no question whatever as to what the opinion of men 
 of honor will be. These I. 0. U.'s are in our hands. Mr. 
 Cotter does not desire to pursue the case; he will, how- 
 ever, refuse absolutely to pay those I. 0. U.'s, and in doing 
 so he will have the approval of all honorable men. That 
 being so, the I. 0. U.'s are absolutely useless to you, and if 
 you will agree to my tearing them up now, he has most 
 kindly consented to let the matter drop in your cases." 
 
 The three men, who had all turned very white when he 
 was speaking, now protested angrily against imputations 
 being made on their honor. 
 
 " Well, sirs," the officer said, " in that case the matter 
 can, of course, go on. You know best what the feeling 
 will be as to these I. 0. U.'s. They will form an important 
 item of evidence against you, you will see. As the matter 
 stands, either you gave them to Emerson to collect for 
 you, without any money passing between you — a very 
 strange procedure, which you will find it difficult to ex- 
 plain — or else he gave you the coin for them, and you 
 passed them over to him, and have, therefore, parted with 
 all claim on Mr. Cotter on your own account. Of course 
 I impound them with the other I. 0. U.'s as proof of a 
 conspiracy between you. Now, sirs, am I to tear them up 
 or not? " 
 
 The three men looked at each other, and then one of 
 them said: 
 
 " We protest altogether against the assertion, sir, but 
 at the same time, as there can be little doubt that Emer- 
 son and Sir James Flash have played unfairly, and we do 
 not wish any association of our names with theirs, we are 
 perfectly willing that the I. 0. U.'s, which, under the cir- 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET*. 197 
 
 eumstances, we should never have dreamt of presenting, 
 should be destroyed." 
 
 " I think that you have chosen wisely/' the chief said 
 dryly. " It is a pity that you did not do so at first. 
 These are the I. 0. XL's he gave to one or other of you. 
 Perhaps it would be pleasanter for you to destroy them 
 yourselves." 
 
 The three men took the papers with their names on 
 them and tore them up. 
 
 " Thank you," he went on sarcastically. " That will 
 place you in a better position. You will be able to tell 
 your friends that you felt so indignant at the manner in 
 which Mr. Cotter had been swindled by Emerson and 
 Flash that you at once destroyed his I. 0. XL's for the sums 
 that you had won of him. But, gentlemen," — he spoke 
 sternly now, — " remember that we have a long list against 
 you, and that the next victim, or let us say his father, 
 might be more disposed to push matters to their full 
 length than is Mr. Cotter. Bemember, also, that we keep 
 ourselves acquainted with what is going on, and that 
 should trouble arise we shall produce all the complaints 
 that have been made against you, and shall also mention 
 your connection with this affair, in which, as I understand, 
 you all did your best to prevent those two fellows from 
 being searched." 
 
 Without saying another word the three men went out 
 of the room, too crestfallen to make even an attempt at 
 keeping up their air of indignation. The others were then 
 called in. 
 
 " I am sorry, gentlemen," he said, " that you have had 
 the trouble of coming here, for the gentleman swindled 
 has declined to prosecute the swindlers, and you will 
 understand that he is somewhat anxious that his name 
 should not appear in the matter. Fortunately, as instead 
 of paying in cash he gave I. 0. U.'s for his losses, he will 
 not be a loser to any large amount by these transactions. 
 I may say that the proprietor of the hell has been here 
 this morning, and to avoid trouble he has consented to 
 close his place for good. I have only to remark that I 
 should advise you, gentlemen, in future, only to indulge in 
 gambling in places where you may be fairly assured of the 
 
198 COLONEL THORNBYKE'S SECRET 
 
 character of the men you play with. I think, in conclu- 
 sion, that you may all feel grateful to Mr. Cotter for 
 refusing to prosecute. It has saved you from having to 
 appear in court as witnesses in so utterly disreputable an 
 affair." 
 
 There was a general murmur of assent, and in a minute 
 or two the room was clear. Plash and Emerson were then 
 brought in, with a constable on each side of them. 
 
 " Mr. Cotter has, I regret to say, declined to prosecute, 
 and Mr. Thorndyke has done the same with regard to Sir 
 James Flash's use of his pistol. You have, therefore, 
 escaped the punishment due to swindlers at cards. It is 
 the less matter, as you are not likely to have an oppor- 
 tunity of making fresh victims, for the story will be 
 known by this afternoon in every club in London. These 
 I. 0. U.'s will be of no use to you — they are not worth the 
 paper on which they are written. However, I shall take 
 it upon myself to hand them back to Mr. Cotter, to 
 prevent the possibility of their getting into other hands 
 and giving him trouble. You can unlock those handcuffs, 
 constable; these men are at liberty to go, and if they will 
 take my advice they will lose no time in crossing the water 
 and establishing themselves somewhere where their talents 
 are likely to be better appreciated than they are here. 
 Then can go; one of you can call a hackney coach for 
 them if they wish it. They will scarcely care to walk 
 with their garments in their present condition." 
 
 Then the chief went into the next room. 
 
 " There is an end of that affair, Mr. Cotter. Here are 
 the I. 0. U.'s you gave to those two swindlers. Those you 
 gave to the other three men, who were no doubt their 
 confederates, have been torn up by them in my presence. 
 They declare that after seeing how shamefully you had 
 been victimized they had not the slightest idea of ever 
 presenting them." 
 
 " I am sure that I am extremely grateful to you," Cotter 
 said. " I know that I have behaved like a madman, and 
 that I don't deserve to have got off as I have done. It will 
 be a lesson to me for life, I can assure you." 
 
 On leaving, Dick Chetwynd walked for some distance 
 with Mark — as far as Gibbons' place in St. Giles'. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'8 SECRET. 199 
 
 * There is one thing which I cannot understand," he 
 said, " and that is how it was that the constables hap- 
 pened to be so close at hand, just at the time they were 
 wanted." 
 
 " Well, you see, Dick, my relations with Bow Street 
 are just at present of a somewhat close nature, for they 
 are aiding me in the search that I told you that I was 
 making for my father's murderer. The consequence was 
 that I had only to mention to the chief that I fancied I 
 had detected cheating at that place, and that there was 
 a likelihood of a row there last night, and he at once 
 said he would send four men, to come in if they heard 
 a rumpus; and he was, indeed, rather glad of an oppor- 
 tunity for breaking up the place, concerning which he 
 had had several complaints of young men being plucked 
 to the last feather. Well, it was lucky they came. I 
 don't say that it would have made any difference, because 
 I think our side was a great deal stronger than they were, 
 still it would have led to a nasty row, and perhaps to half 
 a dozen duels afterwards. Well, I will say good-by now. 
 I am very glad that the affair has been dropped; it would 
 not have mattered so much to me, as I am single and my 
 own master, but there were a good many men there who 
 would have been ready to have paid up handsomely rather 
 than that their names should appear in connection with 
 a row at a gambling-house." 
 
 At seven o'clock in the evening Philip Cotter called at 
 Mark's lodgings, accompanied by his father, who, as he 
 came in with him, advanced at once to Mark and shook 
 him warmly by the hand. 
 
 " My son has told me everything, Mr. Thorndyke," he 
 said, " and I cannot thank you sufficiently for the noble 
 part you took in rescuing him from the terrible effects 
 of his folly. I have been down here twice this afternoon, 
 for I felt that I could not rest until I had shaken you by 
 the hand. It is not the question of money so much, 
 though that would have been a serious loss to me, but it 
 is the saving of my son's life, and the saving of the 
 honor of our name." 
 
 " I am glad indeed to have been of service, Mr. Cotter, 
 and I trust that you have consented to forgive the folly 
 
200 COLONEL IHORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 that he has committed, and which I feel sure will never be 
 repeated." 
 
 " Yes. It was a heavy blow to me, Mr. Thorndyke, 
 when Philip told me; but as he has sworn most solemnly 
 never to touch a card again, and as I feel sure that the 
 lesson cannot but be a useful one to him all his life, I 
 have agreed to say no more about it, and let the matter 
 drop altogether. He has been fortunate to have escaped 
 so easily. He has told me of the noble offer you made to 
 pay his losses if you should not be able to prove that he 
 was being cheated." 
 
 " I was not committing myself heavily," Mark said with 
 a smile. " I had seen enough to be absolutely certain, 
 and was sure that I should be able to bring it home to 
 them." 
 
 " But it was at a considerable risk to yourself, Mr. 
 Thorndyke. As it was, you had a narrow escape of being 
 shot." 
 
 " Not a very narrow escape," Mark replied. " With 
 so many men standing round him and their attention 
 called to him, it was certain that he would be seized 
 before he could take aim at me. I had pistols in my 
 pocket, and was prepared to fire in an instant, but I saw at 
 once that there was no occasion for that." 
 
 " But I cannot imagine how you should have detected 
 the cheating," the banker said. " You are younger than 
 my son, and he said that you told him that you had only 
 recently come up to London. It is astonishing that 
 while experienced players should never have noticed that 
 anything was wrong you should have discovered it." 
 
 " The explanation is simple, Mr. Cotter. I have no 
 inclination for play myself, but I happened a short time 
 since to fall in with a man who was well acquainted with 
 all the various methods of card-sharping. I thought that 
 a knowledge of that might some day be useful, and I got 
 him to put me up to a number of the tricks of card- 
 sharpers both at home and abroad. Having these fresh 
 in my mind, and seeing that your son was playing with 
 a man whose reputation I knew to be bad, I naturally 
 concentrated my attention upon him, and was not long 
 in discovering that he had a confederate standing behind 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 201 
 
 your son's chair. Being a stranger in the place, I could 
 not denounce him, but the next night I set two friends 
 to watch that method of cheating, while I kept my eyes 
 fixed on Emerson's hands. As I anticipated, there was 
 nothing suspicious about his movements so long as play 
 was comparatively low, for the advantage that he gained 
 from his confederate enabled him to be sure of winning 
 in the long run; it was only in the last game, which was 
 a high one, that, as he knew that your son had a strong 
 hand, he was tempted to stock his hand with false cards; 
 and watching closely, I had no difficulty in detecting his 
 method." 
 
 " Well, sir, you have, at any rate, laid us both under 
 the deepest obligation. Is there any possible way in 
 which we can show our gratitude ? " 
 
 Mark thought for a moment. 
 
 " In one way you might do me a favor, Mr. Cotter. A 
 ward of my father's, who will inherit some property when 
 she comes of age, is at present finishing her education 
 in town, and is living with a lady who has been her friend 
 and companion since childhood. I have a good many 
 acquaintances, but they are all bachelors; and having been 
 living down at my father's place, near Eeigate, for so 
 many years, the ladies have no acquaintances in London. 
 They live at Islington, and their life is a very dull one. I 
 am anxious, for several reasons, that the young lady 
 should have the advantage of going somewhat into society. 
 Hitherto I have had no means of introducing her. If it 
 is not too much to ask, Mr. Cotter, I should be extremely 
 glad and obliged if Mrs. Cotter would call on them and 
 give them an introduction into society. The lady with 
 my father's ward is the widow of a captain in the Indian 
 Army, and is in all ways a very charming person, and has 
 been at the head of my father's establishment for the last 
 twelve years." 
 
 " With the greatest pleasure in the world, Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke. I am only sorry that it is so slight a thing that 
 you ask of me. I have thought it but right to tell my 
 wife what has passed, and I had difficulty in persuading 
 her not to come with me this evening to also express her 
 gratitude to you. She will be pleased indeed to call upon 
 
202 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 your friends at once, and I am sure she will do so to-mor- 
 row. I was going to ask you to dine with us, and I hope 
 that you will do so. We shall have no one else, and I 
 hope that you will he able to arrange to meet your friends 
 at our house a few days later." 
 
 The next morning Mark called on Mrs. Cunningham. 
 
 " I think you will have a visitor to-day," he said. " It 
 has happened that I have been able to do a service to the 
 son of Mr. Cotter, a wealthy banker. I am going to dine 
 there this evening. He asked me about my friends in 
 London, and I mentioned that my only lady friends were 
 you and Millicent. He asked a few questions as to where 
 you were living, and so on, and said that his wife would 
 have much pleasure in calling and introducing Millicent 
 into society. As your life is very dull here, and it is 
 clearly very desirable that Millicent should go into society, 
 I gladly accepted the offer, and I believe that she will 
 call to-day." 
 
 " That will be very nice indeed, Mark. Millicent is 
 not complaining, but she must have felt it very dull. I 
 have even felt it so myself after the cheerful society we 
 had at home." 
 
 " I don't know that I shall like it," Millicent said 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you will, Millicent; and besides, it will be 
 good for you. It is not natural for a girl of your age to 
 be here without friends, and I shall be very glad to know 
 that you are going to mix a little with other people." 
 
 Mrs. Cotter called that afternoon, and three days later 
 Mark met Mrs. Cunningham and Millicent at a dinner- 
 party at the banker's, and Mrs. Cotter introduced them 
 very warmly to several of her friends, with the result that 
 in a very short time they were frequently invited out, 
 while they became very intimate with the banker and his 
 wife, and often spent the day there. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Some little time after this Mark was intrusted by his 
 chief with the work of discovering a man who had com- 
 mitted a very atrocious murder, and was, it was tolerably 
 certain, hiding in the shims of Westminster. It was the 
 first business of the kind that had been confided to him, 
 and he was exceedingly anxious to carry it out success- 
 fully. He dressed himself as a street hawker, and took a 
 small lodging in one of the lanes, being away the greater 
 portion of the day ostensibly on his business, and of an 
 evening dropped into some of the worst public-houses in 
 the neighborhood. He was at first viewed with some sus- 
 picion, but it was not long before he became popular. He 
 let it be understood that he had got into trouble down in 
 the country, and that he was quite ready to take part in 
 any job that promised to be profitable. But he princi- 
 pally owed his popularity to the fact that the bully of the 
 locality picked a quarrel with him, and, to the astonish- 
 ment of those present, Mark invited him to go outside. 
 
 " You had better make it up with him, mate," a man 
 sitting by his side whispered. " He was in the prize ring 
 at one time, and thrashed big Mike Hartley at Kenning- 
 ton. He had to give it up owing to having fought a cross. 
 He would kill you in five minutes." 
 
 " I will chance that," Mark said quietly, as he moved 
 towards the door. " I don't think that he is stronger 
 than I am, and I can use my fists a bit, too." 
 
 By the time they had taken off their upper garments 
 a crowd had assembled. The news that a hawker was 
 going to stand up against Black -Tim circulated rapidly, 
 and caused intense excitement. To the astonishment of 
 the spectators, the bully from the first had not a shadow 
 of a chance, and at the end of the third round was carried 
 away senseless, while the hawker had not received a 
 scratch. A few days later Mark, who, on the strength of 
 
 203 
 
204 COLONEL TKORNDYKWS SECRET. 
 
 his prowess, had had two or three hints that he could be 
 put up to a good thing if he was inclined to join, was 
 going down to Westminster when two men stopped and 
 looked after him. 
 
 " I tell you, Emerson, that is the fellow. I could swear 
 to him anywhere. What he is got up like that for I can- 
 not tell you, but I should not be surprised if he is one of 
 that Bow Street gang. He called himself Mark Thorn- 
 dyke, and Chetwynd said that he was a gentleman of prop- 
 erty; but that might have been part of the plant to catch 
 us. I have never been able to understand how a raw 
 countryman could have caught you palming that card. I 
 believe that fellow is a Bow Street runner; if so, it is rum 
 if we cannot manage to get even with him before we go. 
 It seemed to me that luck had deserted us altogether; but 
 this looks as if it was going to turn again. Let's go after 
 him." 
 
 Keeping some fifty yards behind him, they watched 
 Mark to his lodgings, waited until he came out again, and 
 followed him to a public-house. 
 
 " He is acting as a detective, sure enough/' Emerson 
 said. " The question is, what are we to do next? " 
 
 In half an hour Mark came out again. Several people 
 nodded to him as he passed them, but they saw a big man, 
 who happened to be standing imder a lamp, turn his 
 back suddenly as Mark approached him, and, after he had 
 passed, stand scowling after him, and muttering deep 
 curses. Elash at once went up to him. 
 
 " Do you know who that fellow is, my man? " 
 
 The fellow turned savagely upon him. 
 
 " I don't know who he is; but what is that to you? " 
 
 " He is not a friend of ours," Flash said quietly; 
 " quite the contrary. We have known him when he was 
 not got up like this, and we are rather curious to know 
 what he is doing here." 
 
 " Do you mean that? " 
 
 " I do; I owe the fellow a grudge." 
 
 " So do I," the man growled. " Just step up this next 
 turning; there won't be anyone about there. Now, then, 
 what do yer want to know? " 
 
 " I want to know who he is:" 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRE1. 205 
 
 " Well, he calls himself a hawker; but my idea of him 
 is he is one of the fancy, perhaps a west countryman, who 
 is keeping dark here till he can get a match on. I have 
 been a prizefighter myself, but he knocked me out in 
 three rounds the other day." 
 
 " Well, the last time I saw him," Flash said, " he was 
 dressed as a swell. My idea of him is, he is a Bow Street 
 runner, and he is got up like this to lay his hands on some 
 of the fellows down here." 
 
 " You don't mean it! " the man said with a deep oath. 
 " Then I can tell you he has come to the wrong shop. I 
 have only got to whisper it about, and his life would not 
 be worth an hour's purchase. I had meant to stick a knife 
 in him on the first opportunity, but this will save me the 
 trouble." 
 
 " Well, you can have your revenge and five guineas 
 besides," Flash said. " But we must be there at the time. 
 I should like him to know that I was at the bottom of his 
 being caught." 
 
 They stood talking together for a few minutes, and 
 then separated, Flash and his companion going back to 
 a quiet lodging they had taken until they could finish their 
 arrangements for disposing of their furniture and belong- 
 ings before going abroad, while at the same time they 
 finished plucking a country greenhorn they had met at a 
 coffee-house. Two days later, wrapped up in great coats. 
 and with rough caps pulled down over their eyes, they 
 entered the thieves' resort half an hour before Mark's 
 usual time of getting there. A larger number of men than 
 usual were assembled, and among them was Black Jim. 
 The men were all talking excitedly, and were evidently 
 furious at the news that the pugilist had just told them. 
 
 " Those are the gents that have given me the office," 
 he said, as Flash and his companion entered. " They can 
 tell yer he is one of that cursed Bow Street lot." 
 
 " That is right enough, my men," Flash said. " He and 
 four of his mates broke into a place where we were having 
 a bit of play, three weeks since, marched us all away to 
 Bow Street, and shut the place up. I don't know what 
 he is down here for, but you may be sure that it's for no 
 good to some of you. We owe him a heavy one ourselves. 
 
206 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET- 
 
 He came spying on us dressed up as a swell and spoilt 
 our game, and got the darbies put on us, and we have 
 sworn to get even with him." 
 
 " You will get even, don't you fear," one of the men 
 growled, " and more than even, strike me blind if 3^0 u 
 don't." 
 
 " Look here, lads," Flash said. " There is one thing I 
 say — don't use your knives on him; remember he is a run- 
 ner, and no doubt his chief knows all that he is doing, and 
 no doubt ordered him to come here. There will be a big 
 search, you may be sure, when he don't turn up to make 
 his report. So don't let's have any bloodshed. Let the 
 the thing be done quietly." 
 
 " We can chuck his body into the river," one said. 
 
 " Yes, but if it is picked up with half a dozen holes in 
 it, you may be sure that they will be down here, and like 
 enough every man who has used this place will be arrested; 
 you know that when there are twenty men in a job the 
 chances are that one will slip his neck out of the halter 
 by turning King's evidence." 
 
 An angry growl went round the room. 
 
 " Well, you know well enough it is so — it is always the 
 case; besides, we ought to give him a little time to prepare 
 himself. My idea is that the best plan will be to bind 
 and gag him first, then we can hold a little court over 
 him, and let him know what is coming. An hour later, 
 when the place gets a bit quiet, we can carry him down 
 to the river — it is not above fifty yards away — tie a heavy 
 weight round his neck, cut his cords the last thing, and 
 chuck him over; if his body is found; it will be thought it 
 is that of some chap tired of life who took pains to drown 
 himself pretty quickly, and there won't be any fuss over 
 him, and there will be nothing to come upon any of you 
 fellows for." 
 
 There was a general murmur of assent. Several of 
 those present had already committed themselves to some 
 extent with the supposed hawker, and were as eager as 
 Flash himself that he should be killed; still, all felt that 
 it was as well that it should be managed with the least 
 possible risk of discovery, for while an ordinary man 
 qould be put out of the way without any trouble arising, 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE' S SECRET. 207 
 
 the fact that he was a Bow Street runner added enor- 
 mously to the risk of the discovery of his fate. 
 
 There was a little talk, and then two of the men went 
 out and brought back a couple of strong ropes. A few 
 minutes after their return Mark Thorndyke came in. He 
 paused as he entered the room, in surprise at the silence 
 that reigned, for he was accustomed to be greeted with 
 friendly exclamations. However, as he walked in, the 
 door closed, and then, suddenly, with shouts of " Down 
 with the spy! " the men sprang from their seats and made 
 a sudden rush at him. For a minute the struggle was 
 tremendous; man after man went down under Mark's 
 blows, others clung onto him from behind, a rope was 
 passed round his legs and pulled, and he fell down with a 
 crash, bringing down five or six of his assailants; a minute 
 later he was gagged and bound. 
 
 While the struggle was going on no one noticed that a 
 Lascar's face was pressed against the window; it dis- 
 appeared as soon as Mark fell, and ten minutes later a 
 dark-faced sailor ran into Gibbons'; it was a quiet even- 
 ing at Ingleston's, and Gibbons, after smoking a pipe with 
 half a dozen of the pugilists, had just returned. 
 
 " Hallo," he said, as he opened the door, " what the 
 deuce do you want? " 
 
 The man was for a moment too breathless to answer. 
 
 " You know Mr. Thorndyke," he said at last, in very 
 fair English. 
 
 " Yes, I know him. Well, what of him? " 
 
 " He has been attacked by a number of thieves in a 
 public-house near the river, at Westminster, and he will be 
 murdered unless you go with others to help him." 
 
 "What the deuce was he doing there?" Gibbons mut- 
 tered, and then, seizing his cap, said to the Lascar, 
 " Come along with me; it aint likely that we shall be in 
 time, but we will try, anyhow." 
 
 He ran to Ingleston's. 
 
 "Come along, Tnglcston," he exclaimed, "and all of 
 you. You all know Mr. Thorndyke. This man says he 
 has been attacked by a gang down at Westminster, and 
 will be murdered. I am afraid we shan't be in time, but 
 it is worth trying." 
 
208 COLONEL TUOENDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 The prizefighters all leaped to their feet. Mark had 
 sparred with several of them, and, being open-handed and 
 friendly, was generally liked. In a moment, headed by 
 Ingleston and Gibbons, they started at the top of their 
 speed, and in less than a quarter of an hour were at bank- 
 side. 
 
 " That is the house," the sailor said, pointing to the 
 public, where a red blind had been lowered at the window, 
 and two men lounged outside the door to tell any chance 
 customer that might come along he was not wanted there 
 at present. 
 
 Inside a mock trial had been going on, and Mark had 
 been sentenced to death as a spy, not a voice being raised 
 in his defense. As soon as he had been lifted up and 
 seated so that he could see the faces of those present, he 
 recognized the two gamblers, and saw at once that his 
 fate was sealed; even had they not been there the chance 
 of escape would have been small. The fact that one of 
 the detectives had been caught under circumstances when 
 there was but slight chance of its ever being known how 
 he came to his end, was in itself sufficient to doom him. 
 Several of the men present had taken him into their con- 
 fidence, and he had encouraged them to do so, not that 
 he wanted to entrap them, or that he intended to do so, 
 but in order to obtain a clew through them as to the 
 hiding-place of the man he was in search of. 
 
 The savage exultation on the faces of the two gamblers, 
 however, was sufficient to extinguish any ray of hope. 
 He felt sure at once that they had been the authors of 
 his seizure, and that no thought of mercy would enter the 
 minds of these two scoundrels whose plans he had frus- 
 trated, whose position he had demolished, and to whom 
 he had caused the loss of a large sum of money. Neither 
 Flash nor Emerson would have taken share in a crime 
 known to so many had they not been on the point of 
 leaving England. Their names were known to no one 
 there, and even should some of these afterwards peach 
 they would at least be safe. Mark had been asked 
 whether he could deny that he was a member of the 
 detective force, and had shaken his head. Even if he had 
 told a lie, which he would not do, the lie would have 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 209 
 
 been a useless one. No one would have believed it, for 
 the two gamblers would have been witnesses that he 
 was so. 
 
 He had been placed in one corner of the room, so that 
 what light there was would not fall on his face, and had 
 anyone entered they would not have noticed that he was 
 gagged. One, indeed, had suggested that it would be 
 better to lay him under one of the benches, but Black 
 Jim said, with a brutal laugh: 
 
 " No, no; it is better that we should keep sight of him, 
 and if anyone asks a question of course we can say that 
 the gentleman has the toothache." 
 
 Presently Flash spoke to the ruffian in a low voice. 
 
 " Yes, I think you are right," he replied. " Look here," 
 he went on, raising his voice. " There is no occasion to 
 have such a lot in this business; Jake Watson, Bill the 
 Tinker, and me are quite enough to carry him to his bed. 
 I reckon the rest had better make themselves scarce when 
 the times comes, go home, and keep their mouths shut. I 
 need not say that anyone who lets his tongue wag about 
 it is likely to come to a worse end than this bloodhound. 
 We will have another glass of grog before you turn out; 
 the streets won't be quiet for another hour yet, and there 
 is another guinea of this worthy hawker's to be spent. 
 Summers, make another big bowl of punch. Don't put so 
 much water in it as you did in the last." 
 
 The landlord, a notorious ruffian, was just coming into 
 the room with a huge bowl when there was the sound of 
 a scuffle outside. 
 
 " You had better see what is up," Black Jim said, and 
 two of the men nearest the door unbarred and opened it. 
 As they did so there was rush, and eight powerful men 
 ran in, knocking to the floor those who had opened the 
 door. The rest sprang to their feet; Gibbons looked 
 round, and as his eye fell upon Mark, who had, the mo- 
 ment the men inside rose, got into a standing position, 
 Gibbons launched himself towards him, striking four of 
 the ruffians who endeavored to stop him to the ground 
 with his crushing blows. 
 
 " This way," he shouted to his friends. " Ingleston and 
 Tring, do you keep the door." 
 
210 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 The moment the six men had closed round Mark, one 
 of them, taking out his knife, cut the cords, removed the 
 bandage from his mouth, and extricated the gag. The 
 name of the two prizefighters had created something like 
 a panic among the crowd, which had increased when one 
 of them shouted, " It is Charley Gibbons." Flash and 
 Emerson sprung to their feet with the rest, and the latter 
 shouted, " Go at them, men; there are only eight of them, 
 and we are twenty. Knife them, or you will all hang for 
 this job." 
 
 The knowledge of their danger was evident to all the 
 men, and, nerved by desperation, they rushed at the prize- 
 fighters; but the eight were now nine, and each of them 
 in a fray of this kind was equal to half a dozen ordinary 
 men. Scarce a word was spoken, but the sound of crush- 
 ing blows and scuffling, and an occasional oath made a 
 confused din in the half-lighted room. Mark burst his 
 Way through his assailants to the spot where Flash and 
 Emerson were standing, somewhat in the rear of the 
 crowd, for they had been sitting at the other end of the 
 room. Flash had a pistol in his hand, but the man who 
 was standing in front of him was struck with such violence 
 that he fell backwards, knocking Emerson to the ground 
 and almost upsetting Flash, and before the latter could 
 steady himself Mark struck him with all his force under 
 the chin. A moment later the landlord blew out the two 
 candles, and in the darkness the ruffians made a dash for 
 the door, carried Tring and Ingleston off their feet, and 
 rushed out into the lane. 
 
 " If the man who blew those candles out don't light 
 them again at once," Gibbons shouted, " I, Charley Gib- 
 bons, tell him that I will smash him and burn this place 
 over his head; he had best be quick about it." 
 
 The landlord, cowed with the threat, soon returned 
 with a candle from the kitchen, and lit those that he had 
 extinguished. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Thorndyke, we just arrived in time, I 
 fancy," Gibbons said. 
 
 " You have saved my life, Gibbons — you and the others. 
 How you got to know that I was here I cannot imagine, 
 but I should have been a dead man in another half-hour 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 211 
 
 if you had not arrived. I thank you all from the bottom 
 of my heart." 
 
 " That is all right, sir," Gibbons said. " It is a pleasure 
 to give such scoundrels as these a lesson. Is anyone hurt? 
 I fancy I have got a scratch or two." 
 
 Several of the men had been cut with knives, but the 
 blows had been given so hurriedly that no one was seri- 
 ously injured. Twelve men lay on the ground. 
 
 " Now sir, what shall we do with these fellows? " 
 
 " I should say we had better leave them alone, Gibbons. 
 I don't want any row over the affair. It is the work of 
 these two fellows here. I think I pretty well settled one 
 of them." 
 
 Gibbons stooped over Flash. 
 
 " You have broken his jaw, sir; but he will come round 
 in time. I believe this other fellow is only shamming. I 
 don't see any of our handiwork upon his face. The others 
 have all got as much as they want, I think," and taking a 
 candle he looked at their faces. " There is not one of 
 them who will want to show up for a week or so," he said, 
 " and there are two or three who will carry the marks to 
 their graves. Well, sir, if you don't want anything done 
 to them, the sooner we are off the better. Those fellows 
 who got away may bring a lot of others down upon us. 
 As long as it is only fists, we could march through West- 
 minster; but as they would have knives, it is just as weli 
 to get out of it before there is any trouble. You are got 
 up in a rum way, Mr. Thorndyke." 
 
 " Yes; I will tell you about it afterwards. I agree with 
 you that we had best be moving at once." 
 
 But the men who had fled were too glad to have made 
 their escape to think of anything but to make for their 
 dens as quick as possible, and the party passed through 
 the lanes into the open space in front of Parliament 
 House without interruption. 
 
 " We will go i 1 ]) to your place, Ingleston, and talk it 
 over there," Mark said. " You can get those cuts bound 
 up, and I shall be very glad to get a drink. That tiling 
 they shoved into my mouth hurt my tongue a good deal, 
 and I have not gone through a pleasant half-hour, I can 
 tell you." 
 
212 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 He walked up past Whitehall with Gibbons and 
 Ingleston, the others going in pairs, so as not to attract 
 attention. As soon as they reached Ingleston's place, 
 the latter told the man in the bar to put the shutters 
 up, led the way into the bar parlor, and mixed a large 
 bowl of punch. 
 
 " Now, Gibbons, in the first place," Mark said, after 
 quenching his thirst, " how did you know of my being 
 in danger?" 
 
 " Well, sir, a black sailor chap ran into my place sud- 
 denly and told me." 
 
 " Do you mean a colored man, Gibbons? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, one of those Lascar chaps you see about the 
 docks. I did not ask any questions, but ran as hard as I 
 could. I had only left here five minutes before, and 
 knew that Tring and some of the others would still be 
 here. They did not lose a moment, and off we went. 
 The sailor chap he kept ahead. I tried to come up to 
 him two or three times to get to know something about 
 it, but he always seemed to quicken his pace when I was 
 coming up, and I soon got too blown to want to do 
 much talking. He led us to the door, and after that I saw 
 nothing more of him. What became of him I don't know. 
 I expect he was better at running than he was at fighting." 
 
 " It is curious," Mark said thoughtfully. " He might 
 have been in the place when I went in, and slipped out 
 while I was making a fight for it. I have seen a Lascar 
 several times while I have been down there. I dare say 
 it was the same man, though why he should take such 
 trouble for the sake of a stranger I don't know. There 
 seems to be a good many of them about, for now I think 
 of it, I have run against them several times wherever I 
 have been in town." 
 
 " Now, sir, what did they want to kill you for? " 
 
 " Well, Gibbons, it happened in this way. My father, 
 you know, was murdered by a man who had a grudge 
 against him, and who is both a highwayman and a house- 
 breaker." 
 
 " They don't often go together," Ingleston said. '" The 
 highwaymen generally look down upon the burglars, and 
 keep themselves to themselves." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 213 
 
 "I know they do, Ingleston; but this fellow has been 
 a convict, and is not particular what he turns his hand 
 to. The detectives have been after him for a long time, 
 but have failed, and I determined to take the matter up 
 myself, and ever since I have been up here I have been 
 hunting about in the worst quarters of the town. The 
 people of Bow Street have aided me in every way they 
 could, and I suppose some of these men have seen me 
 go in or out of the place. Of course, when I am going 
 into these bad quarters, I put on a disguise and manage 
 to get in with some of these thieves, and so to try to get 
 news of him through them. Three weeks ago I decided 
 to try Westminster. I was getting on uncommonly well 
 there, principally because I gave a tremendous thrashing 
 to a fellow they call Black Jim. He has been a prize- 
 fighter." 
 
 "I know him," Tring said; "it 'was the fellow that 
 was kicked out for selling a fight. He was not a bad 
 man with his fists, either; but I expect you astonished 
 him, Mr. Thorndyke." 
 
 " Yes, I knocked him out of time in three rounds. 
 Well, he has been a bully down there, and everyone was 
 very glad he was taken down. After that I got to know 
 several of the worst lot down there. They fancied that I 
 was one of themselves, and several of them made proposals 
 to me to join them, and, of course, I encouraged the 
 idea in hopes of coming upon the man that I was after. 
 Then some fellow in the street recognized me, I suppose, 
 and denounced me to the rest as being one of the runners. 
 I suppose he told them this evening, before I went in. 
 
 " The place was a regular thieves' den, which, of course, 
 was why I went there. Naturally they were furious, 
 especially those who had been proposing to me to join 
 them. Anyhow, they had evidently settled among them- 
 selves that I was to be put out of the way, and directly 
 I went in I was attacked. I knocked down a few of them, 
 but they jumped on my back, and one of them managed 
 to get a rope round my legs, and down I went with three 
 or four of them, and before I could get up again they 
 had tied and gagged me. Then they held a sort of 
 court. Man after man got up and said that I had been 
 
214 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 drawing them on to find out what they were up to, and 
 had agreed to join them, of course with the intention of 
 getting them caught in the act, and two got up and said 
 that they knew me as one of the runners. They all 
 agreed that I must be put out of the way. 
 
 " I suppose, as the landlord did not want blood spilt in 
 his house, they did not knife me at once; however, they 
 told me that they had decided that as soon as the coast 
 was clear I should be carried down to the river, and 
 chucked in, with an old anchor tied to my neck. I had 
 just a gleam of hope a short time before you came in, 
 for then it had been settled that it was just as well no 
 more should be engaged in the affair than was necessary, 
 and that Black Jim, with two others, whom I had been 
 talking to, and the two men who had told them that I 
 was a runner, should manage it, and the rest were to go 
 off to their homes. 
 
 " I had been all the time trying to loosen my ropes., 
 and had got one of my hands nearly free, and I thought 
 that if they waited another half-hour I might have got 
 them both free, and been able to make a bit of a fight 
 of it, though I had very little hope of getting my legs 
 free. 
 
 *' However, I had my eye on the knife of the man who 
 was fitting next to me, and who was one of those who was 
 to stay. I thought that if I had my hands free, I could 
 snatch his knife, settle him, and then cut the ropes from 
 my legs; that done, I could, I think, have managed 
 Black Jim and the others. As for the men who de- 
 nounced me, they were small men, and I had no fear of 
 them in a fight, unless, as I thought likely enough, they 
 might have pistols. One of them is the fellow whose 
 jaw I broke; I hit him hard, for he had a pistol in his 
 hand." 
 
 " There is no doubt you hit him hard," Gibbons said 
 dryly. " He looked a better sort than the rest." 
 
 " Yes, the fellow was a card-sharper whom I once 
 detected at cheating; and so was the one who was lying 
 next to him, the man whom you said you thought was 
 shamming." 
 
 By this time the men's wounds were all bandaged up. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 815 
 
 Mark told them that he would be round there again in 
 the morning, and hoped that they would all be there. 
 
 " I shall go home at once, and turn in," he said. 
 " Straining at those cords has taken the skin off my 
 wrists, and I feel stiff all over; it will be a day or two, 
 Gibbons, before I am able to put the gloves on again. 
 I wish I could find that Lascar; I owe him a heavy debt." 
 
 As Mark made his way home he thought a good deal 
 about the colored sailor. If the man had been in the 
 den the ruffians would hardly have ventured to have 
 attacked him in the presence of a stranger. Of course, 
 he might have been passing, and have seen the fray 
 through the window, but in that case he would run to 
 the nearest constable. How could he know anything 
 about his habits, and why should he have gone to Gibbons 
 for assistance? That, and the fact that he had so often 
 observed Lascars in the places he had gone to, certainly 
 looked as if he had been watched, and if so, it could only 
 be connected with those diamonds. It was a curious 
 thing altogether. 
 
 The next morning he went early to Bow Street. Aa 
 soon as the chief came he related the events of the 
 previous evening, and told him that it was Plash and 
 Emerson who had denounced him. 
 
 " I know the place," the officer said. " It is one of 
 the worst thieves' den in London. However, it is just as 
 well you decided not to take any steps. Of course, all 
 the fellows would have sworn that they did not intend 
 to do any harm, but that Flash had put them up to 
 frightening you, and I doubt whether any jury would 
 have convicted. As to the other men, we know that they 
 are all thieves, and some of them worse; but the mere fact 
 that they proposed to you to join in their crimes won't 
 do, as no actual crime was committed. However, I shall 
 have the gang closely watched, and, at any rate, you had 
 better leave Westminster alone; someone else must take 
 up the work of looking for that man you were on the 
 watch for. Anyhow, you had best take a week's rest; 
 there is no doubt you have had a very narrow escape. It 
 is strange about that Lascar; he might not have cared 
 for going in to take part in the fray, but you would have 
 
216 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 thought that he would have waited outside to get a 
 reward for bringing those men to your rescue." 
 
 As Mark did not care to tell about the diamonds till 
 the time came for getting them, he made no reply, 
 beyond expressing an agreement with the chief's surprise 
 at the man not having remained to the end of the fray. 
 On leaving Bow Street he went up to Ingleston's. The 
 men who had rescued him the night before were gathered 
 there; and he presented each of them with a check for 
 twenty-five guineas. 
 
 " I know very well," he said, " that you had no thought 
 of reward when you hurried down to save me, but that 
 is no reason why I should not show my gratitude to you 
 for the service you have rendered me; some of you might 
 very well have been seriously hurt, if not killed, by their 
 knives. At any rate, I insist upon you taking it; money 
 is always useful, you know, and it is not often so well 
 earned as this." 
 
 The men were greatly pleased, and Tring said: 
 
 " Well, sir, if you get into another scrape you may be 
 sure that you can count upon us." 
 
 " I shall try and not get into any more," Mark laughed. 
 " This has been a good deal more serious than I ha8 
 bargained for, and I shall be very careful in the future." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " The burglary season seems to have recommenced in 
 earnest," Mark's chief said some nine months after he had 
 been at work. " For a time there had been a lull, as you 
 know, but I have had three reports this week, and it 
 strikes me that they are by the same hand as before; of 
 course I may be mistaken, but they are done in a similar 
 way, the only difference being that there is ground for 
 believing that only one man is engaged in them. I fancy 
 the fellow that you are after has either been away from 
 London for some time, or has been keeping very quiet. 
 At any rate, we have every ground for believing that he 
 keeps himself aloof from London thieves, which is what I 
 should expect from such a man. If one has nerve enough 
 to do it, there is nothing like working singly; when two 
 or three men are engaged, there is always the risk of one 
 being caught and turning Queen's evidence, or of there 
 being a quarrel, and of his peaching from revenge. 
 
 " If your man has been away from town, he has 
 certainly not been working any one district; of course, 
 one gets the usual number of reports from different 
 quarters; but although burglaries are frequent enough, 
 there has been no Complaint of a sudden increase of such 
 crimes as there would have been judging from the numer- 
 ous daring attempts here, had Bastow been concerned; 
 therefore I feel sure that he has been living quietly. He 
 would have his mate's share — that man you shot, you 
 know — of the plunder they made together; he would know 
 that after that affair at your place there would be a 
 vigilant hunt for him, and it is likely enough that he has 
 retired altogether from business for a time. 
 
 " However, men of that sort can never stand a quiet 
 life long, and are sure sooner or later to take to their 
 trade again, if only for the sake of its excitement. Now 
 that the burglaries have begun again,. I shall be glad if 
 
 9X7 
 
218 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 you will devote yourself entirely to this business. You 
 have served a good apprenticeship, and for our sake as 
 well as yours I should be glad for you to have it in 
 hand." 
 
 " I shall be very pleased to do so, sir. Although we 
 do not know where he is to be found, I think I can say 
 that it is not in the slums of London; it seems to me 
 that he may be quietly settled as an eminently respectable 
 man almost under our noses; he may show himself occa- 
 sionally at fashionable resorts, and may be a regular 
 attendant at horse-races. 
 
 " He would not run any appreciable risk in doing so, 
 for his face is quite unknown to anyone except the con- 
 stables who were present at his trial, and even these would 
 scarcely be likely to recognize him, for he was then but 
 eighteen, while he is now six or seven and twenty, and 
 no doubt the life he has led must have changed him 
 greatly." 
 
 " I quite agree with you," the chief said. " After the 
 first hunt for him was over, he might do almost anything 
 without running much risk. Well, I put the matter in 
 your hands, and leave it to you to work out in your own 
 way; you have given ample proof of your shrewdness and 
 pluck, and in this case especially I know that you will 
 do everything that is possible. Of course you will be 
 relieved of all other duties, and if takes you months 
 before you can lay hands upon him, we shall consider it 
 time well spent, if you succeed at last. From time to 
 time change your quarters, but let me know your address, 
 so that, should I learn anything that may be useful, I can 
 communicate with you at once. You had better take 
 another name than that by which you are known in the 
 force. I shall be glad if, after thinking the matter over, 
 you will write me a few lines stating what you propose 
 to do in the first place." 
 
 Mark went back to his lodgings, and sat there for some 
 time, thinking matters over. His first thought was to 
 attend the races for a time, but seeing the number of 
 people there, and his own ignorance of Bastow's appear- 
 ance, he abandoned the idea, and determined to try a 
 slower but more methodical plan. After coming to that 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 219 
 
 conclusion he put on his hat and made his way to Mrs. 
 Cunningham's. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Constable," Millicent said saucily, as he 
 entered, " any fresh captures? " 
 
 " No, I think that I have for the present done with 
 that sort of thing; I have served my apprenticeship, and 
 am now setting up on my own account." 
 
 "How is that, Mark?" 
 
 " There is reason to believe that Bastow has begun his 
 work again near London. As I have told you, it is 
 absolutely certain that he is not hiding in any of the 
 places frequented by criminals here, and there is every 
 reason for supposing that he has been leading a quiet life 
 somewhere, or that he has been away in the country. As 
 long as that was the case, there was nothing to be 
 done; but now that he seems to have set to work again, 
 it is time for me to be on the move. I have seen the 
 chief this morning, and he has released me from all other 
 duty, and given me carte blanche to work in my own 
 way." 
 
 " Then why don't you leave the force altogether, Mark? 
 You know that I have always thought it hateful that you 
 should be working under orders, like any other constable." 
 
 " Of course, women don't like to • be under orders, 
 Millicent; but men are not so independent, and are quite 
 content to obey those who are well qualified to give orders. 
 I have had a very interesting time of it." 
 
 " Very interesting! " she said scornfully. " You have 
 nearly been killed or shot half a dozen times; you have 
 been obliged to wear all sorts of dirty clothes, to sleep 
 in places where one would not put a dog, and generally 
 to do all sorts of things altogether unbecoming in your 
 position." 
 
 " My dear, I have no particular position," he laughed, 
 and then went on more seriously: " My one position at 
 present is that of avenger of my father's murder, and 
 n»thing that can assist me in the task is unbecoming to 
 me; but, as I said, it has been interesting, I may almost 
 say fascinating, work. I used to be fond of hunting, but 
 T can tell you that it is infinitely more exciting to hunt a 
 man than it is to hunt a fox. You are your own hound,. 
 
220 COLONEL TIIORNDYEE'S SECRET. 
 
 you have to pick up the scent, to follow it up, however 
 much the quarry may wind and double, and when at 
 last you lay your hand upon his shoulder and say, ' In 
 the King's name/ there is an infinitely keener pleasure 
 than there is when the hounds run down the fox. One 
 sport is perhaps as dangerous as the other: in the one 
 case your horse may fail at a leap and you may break 
 your neck, in the other you may get a bullet in your 
 head; so in that respect there is not much to choose 
 between man and fox hunting. There is the advantage, 
 though, that in the one you have to depend upon your 
 horse's strength, and in the other on your own courage." 
 
 " I know that you are an enthusiast over it, Mark, 
 and I can fancy that if I were a big strong man, as you 
 are, I might do the same; but if you are going now to 
 try by yourself, why should you not leave the force alto- 
 gether ? " 
 
 " Because, in the first place, I shall get all the informa- 
 tion they obtain, and can send for any assistance that I 
 may require. In the next place, by showing this little staff 
 with its silver crown, I show that I am a Bow Street run- 
 ner, and can obtain information at once from all sorts of 
 people which I could not get without its aid." 
 
 " Well, I won't say anything more against it, Mark. 
 How are you going to begin? " 
 
 " I mean to go the round of all the places near London 
 — say, within ten miles. I shall stay from a week to a 
 fortnight in each, take a quiet lodging, give out that I 
 am on the lookout for a small house with a garden, and 
 get to talk with people of all kinds." 
 
 " But I cannot see what you have to inquire for." 
 
 " I imagine that Bastow will have taken just the sort 
 of house that I am inquiring for, and in the course of 
 my questions I may hear of someone living in just that 
 sort of way — a retired life, not making many friends, 
 going up to London sometimes, and keeping, perhaps, a 
 deaf old woman as a servant, or perhaps a deaf old man — 
 someone, you see, who would not be likely to hear him if 
 he came home in the middle of the night, or in the early 
 morning. Once I hear of such a man, I should ascertain 
 his age, and whether generally he agreed in appearance 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 221 
 
 with what Bastow is likely to be by this time, then get 
 down one of the constables who was at the trial, and take 
 his opinion on the subject, after which we should only 
 have to watch the house at night and pounce upon him 
 as he came back from one of his excursions. That is the 
 broad outline of my plan. I cannot help thinking that 
 in the long run I shall be able to trace him, and of course 
 it will make it all the easier if he takes to stopping 
 coaches or committing murderous burglaries." 
 
 " Then I suppose we are not going to see you often,. 
 Mark?" 
 
 " Well, not so often as you have done, Millicent, for 
 some time, at any rate. I shall not be more than five 
 or six miles away, and I shall often ride into town for 
 the evening, and return late with some sort of hope that 
 I may be stopped on the road again; it would save me 
 a world of trouble, you see, if he would come to me 
 instead of my having to find him." 
 
 " Which side of London are you going to try first ? " 
 
 " The south side, certainly; there are a score of places 
 that would be convenient to him — Dulwich, Clapham, 
 Tooting, Wimbledon, Stockwell; the list is a long one. 
 I should say Wimbledon was about the most distant, and 
 I should think that he would not go so far as that; if he 
 only acted as a highwayman he might be as far off as 
 Epsom; but if he is really the man concerned in these 
 burglaries he must be but a short distance away. He 
 would hardly risk having to ride very far with the 
 chance of coming upon the patrols. I think that I shall 
 begin at Peckham; that is a central sort of position, and 
 from there I shall work gradually west; before I do so 
 perhaps I shall try Lewisham. He is likely, in any case, 
 to be quite on the outskirts of any village he may have 
 settled in, in order that he may ride in and out at any 
 hour without his coming and going being noticed." 
 
 " You certainly seem to have thought it over in all 
 ways, Mark; you almost infect me with your ardor, and 
 make me wish that I was a man and could help you." 
 
 " You are much nicer as you are, Millicent." 
 
 The girl tossed her head in disdain at the compliment. 
 
 " It is all very well, Mark," she went on, ignoring his 
 
222 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 speech, " but it seems to me that in finding out things a 
 woman would be able to do just as much as a man; she can. 
 gossip with her neighbors and ask about everyone in a 
 place quite as well, if not better, than a man." 
 
 "Yes, I don't doubt that," Mark laughed, "and if I 
 want your aid I shall have no hesitation in asking for it. 
 Until then I hope you will go on with your painting and 
 harping steadily, like a good little girl." 
 
 " I am nearly eighteen, sir, and I object to be called a 
 good little girl." 
 
 " Well, if I were to say a good young woman you would 
 not like it." 
 
 " No, I don't think I should. I don't know why, but 
 when anyone says a girl is a good young woman or a nice 
 young woman, there always seems something derogatory 
 about it; it is almost as bad as saying she is a very 
 respectable young person, which is odious." 
 
 " Then, you see," he went on, " you are quite getting 
 on in society; since Mr. Cotter's introduction to Mrs. 
 Cunningham and his mother's subsequent call you have 
 got to know a good many people and go about a good 
 deal." 
 
 " Yes, it has been more lively of late," she admitted. 
 "At first it was certainly monstrously dull here, and I 
 began to think that we should have to change our plans 
 and go down again to Weymouth, and settle there for a 
 time. Now I am getting contented; but I admit, even at 
 the risk of making you conceited, that we shall certainly 
 miss you very much, as you have been very good, con- 
 sidering how busy } r ou have been, to come in three or four 
 evenings every week for a chat." 
 
 " There has been nothing very good about it, Millicent; 
 it has been very pleasant to me; it is like a bit of old times 
 again when I am here with you two, and seem to leave all 
 the excitement of one's work behind as I come in at the 
 door." 
 
 " I wonder whether the old time will ever come back 
 again, Mark? " she said sadly. 
 
 " It never can be quite the old time again, but when 
 vou are back at the old place it may be very near it." 
 
 She looked at him reproachfully. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 223 
 
 "You think that I shall change my mind,. Mark, but 
 at heart you know better. The day I am one-and-twenty 
 I hope to carry out my intentions." 
 
 " Well, as I have told you before, Millicent, I cannot 
 control your actions, but I am at least master of my own. 
 You can give away Crowswood to whom you like, but 
 at least you cannot compel me to take it. Make it over 
 to one of the hospitals if you like — that is within your 
 power; but it is not in your power to force me into the 
 mean action of enriching myself because you have roman- 
 tic notions in your mind. I should scorn myself were 
 I capable of doing such an action. I wonder you think 
 so meanly of me as to suppose for a moment that I would 
 do so." 
 
 " It is a great pity my father did not leave the property 
 outright to your father, then all this bother would have 
 been avoided," she said quietly. " I should still have had 
 plenty to live upon without there being any fear of being 
 loved merely for my money." 
 
 " It would have been the same thing if he had," Mark 
 said stubbornly. " My father would not have taken it, 
 and I am sure that I should not have taken it after him; 
 you are his proper heiress. I don't say if he had left a 
 son, and that son had been a second Bastow, that one 
 would have hesitated, for he would probably have gambled 
 it away in a year, the tenants might have been ruined, 
 and the village gone to the dogs. Every man has a right 
 to disinherit an unworthy son, but that is a very different 
 thing from disinheriting a daughter simply from a whim. 
 Well, don't let us talk about it any more, Millicent. It 
 is the only thing that we don't agree about, and therefore 
 it is best left alone." 
 
 The next day Mark established himself at an inn in 
 Peckham, and for six weeks made diligent inquiries, but 
 without success. There were at least a dozen men who 
 lived quietly and rode or drove to their business in town. 
 Many of them were put aside as needing no investigation, 
 having been residents there for years. Some of the others 
 he saw start or return, but none of them corresponded 
 in any way with the probable appearance of the man for 
 whom he was in search. During this time he heard of 
 
224 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 several private coaches being held up on the road between 
 Epsom and London, and three burglaries took place at 
 Streatham. 
 
 He then moved to Stockwell. Before proceeding there 
 he had his horse up again from Crowswood, and rode into 
 Stockwell from the west. He was dressed now as a small 
 country squire, and had a valise strapped behind his 
 saddle. The inn there was a busy one. 
 
 " I want a room," he said, as he alighted. " I shall 
 probably stay here a few days." 
 
 Presently he had a talk with the landlord. 
 
 " I am on the lookout," he said, " for a little place 
 near town. I have come in for a small estate in the 
 country, but I have no taste for farming, and want to 
 he within easy reach of town, and at the same time to 
 have a place with a paddock where I can keep my horse 
 and live quietly. I don't much care whether it is here 
 or anywhere else within a few miles of town, and I intend 
 to ride about and see if I can find a place that will suit 
 me. I do not want to be nearer the town than this, for I 
 have not money enough to go the pace; still, I should like 
 to be near enough to ride or walk in whenever I have a 
 fancy for it." 
 
 " I understand, sir. Of course there are plenty of 
 places round here, at Clapham and Tooting, and I may 
 say Streatham, but most of them are a deal too large for 
 a bachelor, still I have no doubt you would find a place 
 to suit you without much difficulty. These sort of places 
 are most in request by London tradesmen who have given 
 up business and want to get a little way out of town and 
 keep a gig. I should say there must be a score of such 
 people living round here. I am often asked about such 
 places, but I don't know of one to let just at the present 
 moment. 
 
 " Still, there ought to be, for of late people have not 
 cared so much to come out here; there has been such a 
 scare owing to highwaymen and burglars, that men with 
 wives and families don't fancy settling out of town, 
 though there aint much work about it, for to every one 
 house that is broken into there are thousands that are 
 not, and besides, the houses that these fellows try are 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 225 
 
 large places, where there is plenty of silver plate and a 
 few gold watches, and perhaps some money to be had." 
 
 Mark soon made the acquaintance of the stablemen, 
 and a few pints of beer put them on good terms with 
 him. Every day he took rides round the neighborhood, 
 going out early, stabling his horse, and after having a 
 chat with the ostlers, strolling round the place. Clap- 
 ham, Ewell, and Streatham were also visited. 
 
 " I know of a place that would just suit you/' the 
 ostler at the Greyhound at Streatham said to him, on 
 the occasion of his third visit there, " but it is let; my 
 old mother is the gentleman's housekeeper. He took the 
 place through me, for he rode up just as you have done, 
 one afternoon, nigh a year ago. He was from town, he 
 was; he told me that he had been going the pace too 
 hard, and had to pull in, and wanted a little place where 
 he could keep his horse and live quiet for a time. I told 
 him of a place that I thought would suit him just outside 
 the town, and he called in the next day and told me he had 
 taken it. ' Now/ he said, ' I want a woman as house- 
 keeper; an old woman, you know. I cannot be bothered 
 with a young one. If you speak a civil word to a wench 
 she soon fancies you are in love with her. I want one 
 who can cook a chop or a steak, fry me a bit of bacon, and 
 boil an egg and keep the place tidy. I intend to look 
 after my horse myself.' 
 
 " ' Well, sir/ I said, ' there is my old mother. She is 
 a widow, and it is as much as she can do to keep off the 
 parish. She is reckoned a tidy cook and a good cleaner, 
 and she could keep herself well enough if it wasn't that 
 she is so hard of hearing that many people don't care to 
 employ her.' 
 
 " ' I don't care a rap about that/ he said. ' I shall not 
 need to talk to her except to tell her what I will have for 
 dinner, and if she is deaf she won't want to be away 
 gossiping. Does she live near here? ' 
 
 " ' She lives in the town/ I said. ' I can fetch her down 
 in half an hour.' 
 
 " ' That will do/ says he. ' I am going to have lunch. 
 When I have done I will come out and speak with her.' 
 
 " Well, sir, he engaged her right off, and he tipped me 
 
226 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 a guinea for finding the place for him, and there he has 
 been ever since. It was a lucky job for mother, for she 
 says there never was a gentleman that gave less trouble. 
 He is wonderful quiet man, and in general stops at 
 home all the day smoking and reading. He has a boy 
 comes in two or three times a week to work in the garden. 
 Sometimes of an evening he rides up to town. I expect 
 he cannot keep away from the cards altogether." 
 
 " Is he an elderly man? " Mark asked. 
 
 " Lor', no, sir; under thirty, I should say. He is a free- 
 handed sort of chap, and though he aint particular about 
 his eating, he likes a bottle of good wine, the old woman 
 says, even if it is only with a chop. He never rides past 
 here and I happen to be outside without tossing me a 
 shilling to drink his health." 
 
 Mark went into the house and ordered lunch. It would 
 not have done to have asked any more questions or to 
 have shown any special interest in the matter, but he felt 
 so excited that he could not have avoided doing so had 
 he waited longer with the ostler. After he had finished 
 his meal he strolled out again into the stable yard. 
 
 " Well," he said to the ostler, " can't you put me up to 
 another good thing, just as you told that gentleman you 
 were speaking to me about ? " 
 
 " There are two or three places that I know of that 
 might suit you, sir. There is a house on the hill. I 
 know that it has got a paddock, but I don't know how 
 big it is; it is in general known as Hawleys — that is the 
 name of the last people who lived there. Anyone will 
 tell you which is the house. Then there is another place. 
 You turn to the right the third turning on the hill; it 
 stands by itself two or three hundred yards down; it has 
 got a goodish bit of ground. There is only one house 
 beyond it; that is the one where my mother lives. That 
 was an old farm once, but this was built later. I believe 
 the ground belonged to the farm. You will know it by a 
 big tree in front of it; it stands back forty feet or so from 
 the road." 
 
 " Where does the road lead to? " 
 
 " Well, sir, it aint much of a road beyond the next 
 house; it is only a lane, but you can get through that way 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 227 
 
 into the main road, through Tooting down into Balham, 
 and on to Wimbledon." 
 
 " I think I will go and have a look at both those places/' 
 Mark said. 
 
 " Will you take your horse, sir? " 
 
 " ~No; I suppose it is not much above half a mile? " 
 
 « About that, sir." 
 
 " Then I will walk; I shall not be likely to find anyone 
 to hold my horse there." 
 
 Mark had no difficulty in finding the house. It looked 
 as if it had been untenanted for some time, and in the 
 window was a notice that for keys and information appli- 
 cations were to be made at a shop in the High Street. 
 Well pleased to find that there was no one in the house, 
 Mark entered the gate and passed round into what at one 
 time had been a kitchen garden behind it; at the bottom 
 of this was a field of three or four acres. 
 
 The ground was separated by a hedge from that of 
 the house beyond. This was fully a hundred yards away. 
 A well-bred horse was grazing in the field, a man smoking 
 a pipe was watching a boy doing gardening work behind 
 the house. Mark remained for nearly an hour concealed 
 behind the hedge in hopes that he would come nearer. At 
 the end of that time, however, he went into the house, 
 and after waiting another ten minutes Mark also left, 
 resisting the temptation to walk along the road and take 
 a closer look at it, for he felt that such a step would be 
 dangerous, for should the man notice anyone looking at 
 the place his suspicions might be aroused. 
 
 It was evident that the lane was very little used; in 
 many cases the grass grew across it. There were marks 
 of horses' feet, but none of wheels, and he concluded that 
 when going up to town the man came that way and rode 
 quietly through Streatham, for the hoof-prints all pointed 
 in that direction, and that on his return at night he came 
 up the lane from the other road. 
 
 " Well, master, what flo you think of the houses?" the 
 ostler asked on his return to the inn. 
 
 " I have only been to the one in the lane that you 
 spoke of, for I want to get back to town. I had a good 
 look at it, but it is rather a dreary-looking place, and 
 
228 COLONEL THOUNDYKWS SECRET. 
 
 evidently wants a lot of repairs before it can be made 
 comfortable. The next time that I am down I will look 
 at the other." 
 
 Mounting his horse, he rode at a rapid pace into Lon- 
 don, and dismounted at Bow Street. 
 
 " You have news, I see, Mr. Thorndyke," the chief said 
 when he entered. 
 
 " I have, sir; I believe that I have marked the man 
 down; at any rate, if it is not he, it is a criminal of some 
 sort — of that I have no doubt." 
 
 " That is good news indeed," the chief said. " Now 
 tell me all about it." 
 
 Mark repeated the story the ostler had told him, and 
 the result of his own observations. 
 
 " You see," he said, " the man, whether Bastow or not, 
 has clearly taken the place for the purpose of conceal- 
 ment, for he can approach it by the lane, which is a very 
 unfrequented one, on his return from his expeditions. 
 He has taken on a deaf old woman who will not hear 
 him ride in at night, and will have no idea at what hours 
 he comes home. Hiding out through the main street in 
 the afternoon he would excite no notice, and the story 
 to the ostler would very well account for his taking the 
 house and for his habit of coming up here of an afternoon 
 and returning late. I thought it best to come back and 
 tell you, and I will adopt any plan that you suggest for his 
 capture." 
 
 " You say that he has been there for nearly a year? " 
 
 " About a year, the ostler said." 
 
 " Then one of my men, at least, must have been very 
 careless not to have found him out long ago. Let me 
 see; " and he took down a volume of reports. " Streat- 
 ham. Tomlinson has been here a fortnight making every 
 inquiry. ' No man of suspicious appearance or of un- 
 known antecedents here.' Humph! That is not the first 
 time that Tomlinson has failed altogether in his duty. 
 However, that does not matter for the moment. What 
 is your own idea, Mr. Thorndyke? " 
 
 " My idea is that a couple of good men should go 
 down with me to Streatham, and that we should be always 
 on the watch in High Street until we see him ride past. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 229 
 
 Directly it is dark we will go to his house, fasten the 
 old woman up, and search it thoroughly. If we find 
 stolen property so much the better; but in any case we 
 shall wait inside the house until he returns, and as he 
 comes in throw ourselves upon him before he has time 
 to draw a pistol. I should say it would be as well the 
 men should go down in a trap. There is an empty house 
 next door, and when we go to search the place we can 
 leave the horse and trap inside the gate. Directly we 
 have him secure we can fetch up the trap, put him in, 
 and one of the men and myself can drive him back here, 
 leaving the other in charge of the house, which can then 
 be searched again next day." 
 
 " I think that will be a very good plan, and will avoid 
 all unnecessary fuss. I will send Malcolm and Chester 
 down with you to-morrow. Where will you meet them? " 
 
 " I should say that they had better put up at the 
 Greyhound. I don't suppose he will go out until six or 
 seven o'clock, but they had better be there earlier. One 
 should station himself in the main street, the other 
 concealing himself somewhere beyond the fellow's house, 
 for it is likely enough that sometimes he may take the 
 other way. I will go down to the Greyhound at six, and 
 will wait there until one of them brings me news that he 
 has left." 
 
 " I think you had better come in in the morning, and 
 give your instructions to the men; there will be less fear 
 of any mistake being made. I should say you had better 
 put your horse up and come here on foot; one can never 
 be too careful when one is dealing with so crafty a rogue 
 as this; he certainly does not work with an accomplice, 
 but for all that he may have two or three sharp boys in 
 his pay, and they may watch this place by turns and carry 
 him news of any stir about the office." 
 
 " I will walk in," Mark replied. " It is no distance 
 from Stockwell." 
 
 Mark slept but little that night. He had believed all 
 along tbat he should be finally successful, but the dis- 
 covery had come so suddenly that it had taken him com- 
 pletely by surprise. It might not be the man, and he 
 tried hard to persuade himself that the chances were 
 
230 COLONEL TEORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 against his being so, so that he should not feel disap- 
 pointed should it turn out that it was some other criminal, 
 for that the man was a criminal he had not a shadow of 
 doubt. 
 
 The next morning he was at the office early. The 
 chief arrived half an hour later, and the two officers were 
 at once called in. 
 
 " You will go with Mr. Thorndyke," the chief said, 
 " and he will give you instructions. The capture is a 
 very important one, and there must be no mistake made. 
 We believe the man to be Bastow. I think you were 
 present at his trial, Chester; he escaped from Sydney 
 Convict Prison some three years ago, and is, I believe, 
 the author of many of the highway robberies and bur- 
 glaries that have puzzled us so. Of course, you will 
 take firearms, but if he is alone you will certainly have 
 no occasion to use them, especially as you will take him 
 completely by surprise. You will order a gig from 
 Morden, and leave here about three o'clock. I should say 
 you had better get up as two countrymen who have been 
 up to market. However, Mr. Thorndyke will explain the 
 whole matter to you fully." 
 
 Mark then went off with the two officers to a private 
 room, and went into the whole matter with them. 
 
 " I think, Chester," he said, " that you had better 
 watch in the High Street, because you know the man. 
 At least, }^ou have seen him, and may recognize him 
 again." 
 
 " I think I should know him, however much he has 
 changed. I took particular notice of him at the trial, 
 and thought what a hardened-looking young scamp he 
 was. It is very seldom I forget a face when once I have 
 a thorough look at it, and I don't think I am likely to 
 forget his." 
 
 " Malcolm, I think you cannot do better than take 
 your place in the garden of the house next to his; it is 
 a place that' has stood empty for many months, and 
 there is no chance of anyone seeing you. His paddock 
 comes up to the garden, and you can, by placing yourself 
 in the corner, see him as he comes out into the lane. 
 As soon as you see that he has gone, come back to the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 231 
 
 Greyhound with the news. I shall be there, and you 
 will pick up Chester in the High Street as you come 
 along; of course you won't pretend to know me, but the 
 mere fact of your coming back will be enough to tell me 
 that he has gone. As soon as it gets dark we will pay 
 our reckoning, and drive off in the gig, leaving it in the 
 drive in front of the house this side of his. I shall have 
 strolled off before, and shall be waiting for you there. 
 If he does not come out by ten o'clock we can give it up 
 for to-night. You had better say that you have changed 
 your mind, and will take beds at the Greyhound; and the 
 next morning drive off in your gig and put up again at 
 the inn at the other end of the town, the White Horse. 
 I will come over again at two o'clock in the afternoon. 
 You will bring handcuffs, and you had better also bring 
 a stout rope to tie him with." 
 
 When every detail had been arranged, Mark strolled to 
 Dick Chetwynd's lodgings. 
 
 " Well, Mark what has become of you? I have not seen 
 you for the last two months, and I hear that you have 
 not been near Ingleston's crib since I saw you." 
 
 " No, I have been away on business. You know I told 
 you that I was spending much of my time in endeavoring 
 to hunt down my father's murderer. I can tell you now 
 that I have been working all the time with the Bow Street 
 people, and I think I know every thieves' slum in London 
 as well as any constable in the town." 
 
 "You don't say so, Mark! Well, I should not like 
 such work as that. The prizefighters are a pretty rough 
 lot, but to go to such dens as those is enough to make 
 one shudder. But that does not explain where you have 
 been now." 
 
 " No. Well, having persuaded myself at last that his 
 headquarters were not in town, I have been trying the 
 villages round, and I believe that I have laid my hands 
 on him at last." 
 
 " You don't say so, Mark! Well, I congratulate you 
 heartily, both on your having caught the fellow and for 
 having got rid of such horrid work. Where is he? Have 
 you got him lodged in jail? " 
 
 " No, we are going to capture him to-night; or if not 
 
232 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 to-night, to-morrow night. Two of the Bow Street 
 officers are going down with me, and we shall have him 
 as he comes home from one of his expenditions either on 
 the highway or as a housebreaker. If he does not go 
 this evening we shall wait until to-morrow, but at any 
 rate, the first time that he goes out we shall have him." 
 
 " I have got a special engagement for this evening, 
 Mark, or I would offer to go with you and lend you a 
 hand, if necessary." 
 
 " There is no occasion for that, Dick. We shall take 
 the fellow by surprise as he goes into his own house, and 
 have him handcuffed before he can draw a pistol. Then, 
 when we have got him fairly tied up, we shall put him 
 into a light cart that we shall have handy, and bring him 
 straight to Bow Street. To tell you the truth, I am so 
 excited over the thought that I do not know how I 
 should have got through the day if I had not come in to 
 have a chat with you." 
 
 " I can quite understand that, old fellow. Well, the 
 best thing we can do is to take a stroll out and look at 
 the fashions. It is early yet, but just at present it is all 
 the rage to turn out early. It will do me good too, for 
 I was at Ingleston's last night, and the smoke and row 
 has given me a headache. I shall really have to give up 
 going there, except when there is an important fight on. 
 It is too much to stand, and the tobacco is so bad that 
 I am obliged to keep a suit of clothes for the purpose. 
 Let ns be off at once." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 At four o'clock Mark put up his horse at the Grey- 
 hound, and chatted for a quarter of an hour with the 
 ostler, who had been making inquiries, and had heard of 
 one or two other houses in the neighborhood which were 
 untenanted. Mark then strolled up the town, exchanging 
 a passing glance with. Chester, who, in a velveteen coat, 
 low hat and gaiters, was chatting with a wagoner going 
 with a load of hay for the next morning's market in 
 London. He turned into an inn, called for a pint of the 
 best port, and sat down in the parlor at a table close 
 to the window, so that he could see all who went up or 
 down. He entered into conversation with two or three 
 people who came in, and so passed the time till seven, 
 when he felt too restless to sit still longer, and went out 
 into the street. 
 
 When he was halfway to the Greyhound he heard the 
 sound of a horse's hoofs behind him, and saw a quietly 
 dressed man coming along at an easy trot. Had it not 
 been that he recognized the horse, he could not have felt 
 sure that its rider was the man whose coming he had 
 been waiting for, there being nothing in his appearance 
 that would excite the slightest suspicion that he was 
 other that a gentleman of moderate means and quiet taste, 
 either returning from a ride or passing through on his 
 way to town. He had a well-built and active figure, 
 carried himself with the ease of a thorough horseman, and 
 nodded to one or two persons of his acquaintance, and 
 checking his horse at the principal butcher's, ordered some 
 meat to be sent in that evening. 
 
 Mark could trace no resemblance in the face to that of 
 the young fellow he remembered. It was a quiet and 
 resolute one. If this were Bastow, he had lost the sneer- 
 ing and insolent expression that was so strongly impressed 
 on his memory. It might be the man, but if so, he was 
 greatlj changed. Mark's first impression was that it 
 
 saa 
 
234 COLONEL THORNDYKE'8 SECBET. 
 
 could not be Bastow; but when he thought over the years 
 of toil and confinement in the convict prison, the life he 
 had led in the bush, and the two years he had passed 
 since he returned home, he imagined that the insolence of 
 youth might well have disappeared, and been succeeded 
 by the resolute daring and dogged determination that 
 seemed to be impressed on this fellow's face. 
 
 Mark paused fifty yards before he reached the inn. In 
 a few minutes he saw Chester coming along. There was 
 no one else in sight. 
 
 " Is it Bastow? " he asked, as the officer came up. 
 
 " It's Bastow sure enough, sir. But he is so changed 
 that if I had not had him in my mind I should not have 
 recognized him. I calculate that a man who has gone 
 through what he has would have lost the expression he 
 had as a boy. He must have learnt a lot in the convict 
 prison, and the fact that he headed the mutiny and 
 escaped from the searchers and managed to get home 
 showed that he must have become a resolute and desper- 
 ate man. All those burglaries, and the way in which he 
 has several times stopped coaches single-handed, show 
 his nerve and coolness. I had all that in my mind as he 
 came along, and his face was pretty much as I expected 
 to see it. He is a cool hand, and I can understand how 
 he has given us the slip so long. There is none of the 
 shifty look about his eyes that one generally sees in 
 criminals, no glancing from side to side; he rode with the 
 air of a man who had a right to be where he was, and 
 feared no one. He will be an awkward customer to tackle 
 if we do not take him by surprise." 
 
 " Yes, I agree with you there. However, he won't 
 have much chance of using either his pistols or his 
 strength. Here is Malcolm coming, so I will walk away 
 for a few minutes, and let you go in first. You can tell 
 the ostler now that you will have your horse put in at 
 nine o'clock. I have been thinking, by the way, that we 
 had better take the trap round behind the house instead 
 of leaving it in the drive. The man may come back this 
 way, and if so, he might hear the horse stamp or make 
 some movement, and that would at once put him on his 
 guard/' 
 
COLONEL TIIORNDYKE'S SECRET. 235 
 
 As the officers entered the inn Mark went into the 
 yard and told the ostler that he had met some friends, 
 and should let his horse remain there for the night. 
 
 " It is possible that they may drive me into the town 
 in the morning," he said; " and I shall very likely send 
 a man down for the horse." 
 
 At a quarter to nine he went out again, and walked to 
 the house he had before visited; in ten minutes he heard 
 the sound of wheels, threw open the gate, and the men, 
 jumping down, led the horse in. 
 
 " You may as well take him out of the trap," he said. 
 " We cannot very well get that round the house, but there 
 is no difficulty about taking the horse." 
 
 The officers had brought a halter and a nosebag full of 
 corn. The horse was fastened to a tree with soft ground 
 round it, the nosebag put on, and a horse-cloth thrown 
 over its back; then Mark and his two companions went 
 out into the lane, and in a couple of minutes entered the 
 next gate, treading lightly, and going round to the back 
 of the house. 
 
 A light burned in the kitchen, and an old woman 
 could be seen knitting. They lifted the latch and walked 
 in. Dropping her knitting, she rose with an exclamation 
 of terror. 
 
 Mark advanced alone. 
 
 " Do not be frightened," he said; " we are not going to 
 do you any harm." He took out his little ebony staff. 
 " We are constables," he went on, " and have orders to 
 search this house. We must secure you, but you will 
 be released in the morning. Now, which is your room? " 
 
 In spite of Mark's assurance, the old woman was 
 almost paralyzed with terror. However, the two con- 
 stables assisted her up to her room, and there secured 
 her with a rope, taking care that it was not so tightly 
 *>ound as to hurt her. Then they placed a gag in her 
 nouth, and left her. 
 
 " Now let us search his room in the first place," Mark 
 said, when they came downstairs again. " I hardly 
 expect we shall find anything. You may be sure that he 
 will have taken great pains to hide away any booty that 
 he may have here, and that it will need daylight and a 
 
236 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 closer search than we can give the place now, before we 
 find anything." 
 
 The search of the house was indeed fruitless. They 
 cut open the bed, prized up every loose board in the 
 bedroom and the parlor, lifted the hearthstone, tapped 
 the walls, and searched every drawer; then, taking a 
 lantern, went out into the stable. The officers were both 
 accustomed to look for hiding-places, and ran their hands 
 along on the top of the walls, examining the stone flooring 
 and manger. 
 
 " That is a very large corn-bin," Mark said, as he 
 looked round, when they desisted from the search. 
 
 " You are right, sir. We will empty it." 
 
 There were two or three empty sacks on the ground near 
 it, and they emptied the corn into these, so that there 
 should be no litter about. Chester gave an exclamation 
 of disappointment as they reached the bottom. Mark 
 put his hand on the bin and gave it a pull. 
 
 " It is just as I thought," he said. " It is fastened 
 down. I saw an ax in the woodshed, Malcolm; just fetch 
 it here." 
 
 While the man was away Mark took the lantern and 
 examined the bottom closely. " We shan't want the ax," 
 he said, as he pointed out to Chester a piece of string 
 that was apparently jammed in the form of a loop between 
 the bottom and side. " Just get in and clear those few 
 handfuls of corn out. I think you will see that it will 
 pull up then." 
 
 There was, however, no movement in the bottom when 
 Mark pulled at the loop. 
 
 " Look closely round outside," he said, handing Mal- 
 colm, who had now returned, the lantern. " I have no 
 doubt that there is a catch somewhere." 
 
 In a minute or two the constable found a small ring 
 between two of the cobblestones close to the foot of the 
 wall. He pulled at it, and as he did so Mark felt the 
 resistance to his pull cease suddenly, and the bottom of 
 the bin came up like a trapdoor. 
 
 " That is a clever hiding-place," he said. " If I had 
 not happened to notice that the bin was fixed we might 
 have had a long search before we found it here." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 237 
 
 Below was a square hole, the size of the hin; a ladder 
 led down into it. Mark, with a lantern, descended. 
 Four or five sacks piled on each other lay at the bottom, 
 leaving just room enough for a man to stand beside them. 
 
 " The top one is silver by the feel/' he said, " not yet 
 broken up; these smaller sacks are solid. I suppose it is 
 silver that has been melted down. This " — and. he lifted 
 a bag some eighteen inches deep, opened it, and looked 
 in — " contains watches and jewels. Now I think we will 
 leave things here for the present, and put everything 
 straight. He may be back before long." 
 
 Mark ascended, the bottom of the trap was shut down 
 again, the corn poured in, and the bags thrown down on 
 the spot from which they had been taken. They returned 
 to the house, shut the door, and extinguished the light. 
 
 " That has been a grand find," he said; " even if this is 
 not Bastow, it will be a valuable capture." 
 
 " That it will, Mr. Thorndyke. I have no doubt that 
 this fellow is the man we have been in search of for the 
 last eighteen months; that accounts for our difficulty in 
 laying hold of him. He has been too crafty to try to 
 sell any of his plunder, so that none of the fences have 
 known anything about him. No doubt he has taken 
 sufficient cash to enable him to live here quietly. He 
 intended some time or other to melt down all the rest of 
 the plate and to sell the silver, which he could do easily 
 enough. As for the watches and jewels, he could get rid 
 of them abroad." 
 
 " No doubt that is what he intended," Mark agreed. 
 " It is not often these fellows are as prudent as he has 
 been; if they were, your work would be a good deal more 
 difficult than it is." 
 
 : ' You are right, sir; I don't know that I ever heard of 
 such a case before. The fellow almost deserves to get 
 away." 
 
 " That would be rewarding him too highly for his 
 caution," Mark laughed. " He is a desperate villain, and 
 all the more dangerous for being a prudent one. Now, 
 I think one of us had better keep watch at the gate by 
 turns. We shall hear him coming in plenty of time to 
 get back here and be in readiness for him. We must 
 
238 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 each understand our part thoroughly. I will stand facing 
 the door. It is possible that he may light that lantern 
 we saw hanging in the stable, but I don't think it likely 
 he will do so; he will take off the saddle, and either 
 take the horse in there — there is plenty of food in the 
 manger — or else turn it out into the paddock. As he 
 comes in I will throw my arms round him and you will at 
 once close in, one on each side, each catch an arm 
 tightly, handcuff him, and take the pistols from his 
 belt. Don't leave go of his arms until I have lit the 
 candle; he may have another pistol inside his coat, and 
 might draw it." 
 
 It was now one o'clock, and half an hour later Malcolm, 
 who was at the gate, came in quietly and said he could 
 hear a horse coming along the lane. 
 
 " Which way, Malcolm? " 
 
 " Tooting way." 
 
 " That is all right. I have been a little nervous lest if 
 he came the other way our horse might make some slight 
 noise and attract his attention; that was our only weak 
 point." 
 
 They had already ascertained that the front door was 
 locked and bolted, and that he must therefore enter 
 through the kitchen. They heard the horse stop in front, 
 a moment later the gate was opened, and through the 
 window they could just make out the figure of a man 
 leading a horse: then the stable door opened, and they 
 heard a movement, and knew that the horse was being 
 unsaddled; they heard it walk into the stable, the door 
 was shut behind it, and a step approached the back door. 
 It was opened, and a voice said with an oath, " The old 
 fool has forgotten to leave a candle burning " ; then he 
 stepped into the kitchen. 
 
 In an instant there was a sound of a violent struggle, 
 deep oaths and curses, two sharp clicks, then all was 
 quiet except heavy breathing and the striking of flint on 
 a tinder-box; there was the blue glare of the sulphur 
 match, and a candle was lighted. Mark then turned to 
 the man who was standing still grasped in the hands of his 
 two captors. 
 
 " Arthur Bastow," he said, producing his staff, " I 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 239 
 
 arrest you in the King's name, as an escaped convict, as a 
 notorious highwayman and housebreaker." 
 
 As his name was spoken the man started, then he said 
 quietly: 
 
 " You have made a mistake this time, my men; my 
 name is William Johnson; I am well known here, and 
 have been a quiet resident in this house for upwards of a 
 year." 
 
 " A resident, but not a quiet resident, Bastow. I don't 
 think we are mistaken; but even if you can prove that 
 you are not Bastow, but William Johnson, a man of means 
 and family, we have evidence enough upon the other 
 charges. We have been in search of you for a long time, 
 and have got you at last. You don't remember me, 
 though it is but eighteen months since we met; but I 
 fancy that I then left a mark upon you that still remains 
 on your shoulder. I am Mark Thorndyke, and you will 
 understand now why I have hunted you down." 
 
 " The game is not finished yet," the man said recklessly. 
 " The hunting down will be the other way next time, 
 Mark Thorndyke." 
 
 " I don't think so. Now, Chester, you may as well tie 
 his feet together, and then search him. When that is 
 done I will look after him while you fetch the trap 
 round." 
 
 In his pockets were found two gold watches, forty- 
 eight pounds in gold, and a hundred pounds in bank 
 notes. 
 
 " We shall hear where this comes from to-morrow," 
 Malcolm said, as he laid them on the table; " it will save 
 us the trouble of getting evidence from Australia." 
 
 The prisoner was placed in a chair, and then the two 
 officers went out to fetch the trap round. 
 
 " So you have turned thief-catcher, have you? " he said 
 in a sneering tone, that recalled him to Mark's memory 
 far more than his face had done, " and you carry a Bow 
 Street staff about with you, and pretend to belong to the 
 force: that is a punishable offense, you know." 
 
 " Yes, it would be if I had no right to use it," Mark 
 said quietly; "but it happens that I have a right, having 
 been for a year and a half in the force. I joined it solely 
 
240 COLONEL THORNDTEE'S SECRET. 
 
 to hunt you down, and now that I have done so my 
 resignation will be sent in to-morrow." 
 
 " And how is the worthy squire? " 
 
 Mark started to his feet, and seized one of the pistols 
 lying before him. 
 
 "You villain!" he exclaimed, "I wonder you dare 
 mention his name — you, his murderer." 
 
 " It was but tit for tat," the man said coolly; " he 
 murdered me, body and soul, when he sent me to the 
 hulks. I told him I would be even with him. I did not 
 think I had hit him at the time, for I thought that if I 
 had you would have stopped with him, and would not have 
 chased me across the fields." 
 
 " You scoundrel! " Mark said. " You know well 
 enough that you came back, stole into his room, and 
 stabbed him." 
 
 Bastow looked at him with a puzzled expression. 
 
 " I don't know what you are talking about," he said. 
 " I fired at him through the window — I don't mind saying 
 so to you, because there are no witnesses — and saw him 
 jump up, but I fancied I had missed him. I saw you bol fc 
 out of the room, and thought it better to be off at once 
 instead of taking another shot. You gave me a hard 
 chase. It was lucky for you that you did not come up 
 with me, for if you had done so I should have shot you; 
 I owed you one for having killed as good a comrade as 
 man ever had, and for that bullet you put in my shoulder 
 before. If I had not been so out of breath that I could 
 not feel sure of my aim I should have stopped for you, 
 but I rode straight to town." 
 
 " A likely story," Mark said shortly. " What, you will 
 pretend that there were two murderers hanging round 
 the house that night? — a likely tale indeed." 
 
 " I tell you that if your father was killed by a knife 
 or dagger, I had nothing to do with it," the man said. 
 " I am obliged to the man, whoever he was. I had 
 intended to go down again to Eeigate to finish the job 
 myself; I should scarcely have missed a second time. So 
 it is for that you hunted me down? Well, I don't blame 
 you; I never forgive an injury, and I see your sentiments 
 are mine. Whether I killed your father or not makes no 
 
COLONEL THORNDTEE'S SECRET. 241 
 
 difference; he was killed, that is the principal point; if 
 I was going to be put on my trial for that I could prove 
 that at eight o'clock I was in a coffee-house in Covent 
 Garden. I purposely kicked up a row there, and was 
 turned out, so that if I were charged with that shooting 
 affair I could prove that I was in London that evening." 
 
 " I can't quite believe that," Mark said; " a fast horse 
 would have brought you up to town in an hour and a 
 half, and another fast horse would have taken you back 
 again as quickly; so you might have been in London at 
 eight and back again at Crowswood by half-past twelve 
 or one, even if you stopped a couple of hours at a coffee- 
 house. However, you won't be tried for that. Those 
 things on the table and the contents of that corn-bin are 
 enough to hang you a dozen times." 
 
 "Curse you! have you found that out?" Bastow ex- 
 claimed furiously. 
 
 " We have," Mark replied. " It would have been wiser 
 if you had got rid of your things sooner. It was a clever 
 hiding-place, but it is always dangerous to keep such 
 things by you, Bastow." 
 
 The man said no more, but sat quietly in his chair 
 until they heard the vehicle stop outside the gate. Then 
 the two constables came in, and lifting Bastow, carried 
 him out and placed him in the bottom of the cart. 
 
 " You can loose the old woman now, Malcolm," Mark 
 said as he took his seat and gathered the reins in his hand. 
 " By eleven o'clock, no doubt, one of the others will be 
 down with the gig again, and you can empty out the 
 contents of that hole, and bring them up with you. I 
 don't think that it will be of any use searching further. 
 You might have a good look all round before you come 
 away. There may be some notes stowed away, though it is 
 likely enough that they have been sent away by post to 
 some receiver abroad." 
 
 For some time after starting they could hear the 
 prisoner moving about uneasily in the straw. 
 
 " I suppose there is no fear of his slipping out of those 
 handcuffs, Chester? " 
 
 " Not a bit; they are full tight for him. I expect, that 
 that is what is making him uncomfortable." 
 
242 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Presently the movement ceased. 
 
 " He is still enough now, Mr. Thorndyke. I should 
 not be at all surprised if he has dropped off to sleep. 
 He is hardened enough to sleep while the gibbet was wait- 
 ing for him." 
 
 It was four o'clock in the morning when they drove up 
 at Bow Street. Two constables on duty came out to the 
 cart. 
 
 " We have got a prisoner, Inspector," Chester said. 
 " He is the man we have been looking for so long. I 
 fancy we have got all the swag that has been stolen for 
 the last eighteen months — bags of jewels and watches, and 
 sacks of silver. He is handcuffed, and his legs are tied, 
 so we must carry him in." 
 
 The officer fetched out a lantern. The other constable 
 helped him to let down the backboard of the cart. 
 
 " Now, Bastow, wake up," Chester said. " Here we 
 are." 
 
 But there was no movement. 
 
 " He is mighty sound asleep," the constable said. 
 
 "Well, haul him out;" and, taking the man by the 
 shoulders, they pulled him out from the cart. 
 
 " There is something rum about him," the constable 
 said; and as they lowered his feet to the pavement his 
 head fell forward, and he would have sunk down if they 
 had not supported him. 
 
 The Inspector raised the lantern to his face. 
 
 " Why, the man is dead," he said. 
 
 " Dead! " Chester repeated incredulously. 
 
 " Aye, that he is. Look here; " and he pointed to a 
 slim steel handle some three inches long, projecting over 
 the region of the heart. " You must have searched him 
 very carelessly, Chester. Well, bring him in now." 
 
 They carried him into the room, where two candles 
 were burning. Mark followed them. The inspector 
 pulled out the dagger. It was but four inches long, with 
 a very thin blade. The handle was little thicker than the 
 blade itself. Mark took it and examined it. 
 
 " I have not a shadow of doubt that this is the dagger 
 with which he murdered my father. The wound was very 
 narrow, about this width, and the doctor said that the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE 'S SECRET. 243 
 
 weapon that had been used was certainly a foreign 
 dagger." 
 
 " I don't think this is a foreign dagger," the Inspector 
 said on examining it, " although it may be the one that 
 was used, as you say, Mr. Thorndyke. It has evidently 
 ■been made to carry about without being observed." 
 
 He threw back the dead man's coat. 
 
 *' Ah, here is where it was kept. You see, the lining 
 nas been sewn to the cloth, so as to make a sheath down 
 by the seam under the arm. I expect that, knowing 
 what would happen if he were caught, he had made up 
 his mind to do it all along. Well, I don't know that 
 you are to be so much blamed, Chester, for, passing your 
 hand over his clothes, you might very well miss this, 
 which is no thicker than a piece of whalebone. Well, well, 
 he has saved us a good deal of trouble. You say you have 
 got most of the booty he has collected? " 
 
 " I don't know that we have got all of it, sir, but we 
 have made a very big haul, anyhow; it was a cunningly 
 contrived place. There was a big corn-bin in the stable, 
 and when we had emptied out the corn it seemed empty. 
 However, Mr. Thorndyke discovered that the bin was 
 fixed. Then we found that the bottom was really a trap- 
 door, and under it was a sort of well in which were sacks 
 and bags. One of the sacks was full of unbroken silver, 
 two other contained silver ingots, things that he had 
 melted down, and there was a large bag full of watches 
 and jewels. In his pocket we found a hundred pounds 
 in bank notes, about fifty guineas, and a couple of gold 
 watches." 
 
 " That he must have got to-night from the Portsmouth 
 coach; we heard half an hour ago that it had been 
 stopped near Kingston, the coachman shot, and the 
 passengers robbed. It will be good news to some of them 
 that we have got hold of their valuables. Well, Mr. 
 Thorndyke, I have to congratulate you most heartily on 
 the skill with which you have ferreted out a man who 
 had baffled us for so long, and had become a perfect 
 terror to the south of London. No doubt we shall be 
 able to trace a great portion of the property in that sack. 
 The capture has been splendidly effected." 
 
244 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " You will understand," Mark said, " that I do not 
 ■wish my name to appear in the matter at all. I have, 
 as you know, been actuated by private reasons only in 
 my search, and I see no occasion why my name should 
 he mentioned; the evidence of Chester and Malcolm will 
 he ample. From information received, they went down 
 to this place, searched it in his absence, discovered the 
 stolen goods, and captured them. Having handcuffed and 
 hound him, one drove him up to town, the other remain- 
 ing to guard the treasure. On his way he got at this hid- 
 den dagger and stabbed himself. My evidence would not 
 strengthen the case at all." 
 
 " No, I don't see that it will be necessary to call you, 
 Mr. Thorndyke. The discover}^ of this hidden booty and 
 the proceeds of the coach robbery would be quite 
 sufficient. Beyond the coroner's inquest there will be no 
 inquiry. Had it been otherwise it might probably have 
 heen necessary to call you at the trial. However, as it 
 is, it will save a lot of trouble; now we shall only need 
 to find the owners of these bank notes. I will send off 
 a cart for the things as early as I can get one, and will 
 send a couple of constables round to the houses where 
 "burglaries have been committed to request the owners to 
 come over and see if they can identify any of their prop- 
 erty; and those who do so can attend the inquest to- 
 morrow, though I don't suppose they will be called. The 
 chief will be mightily pleased when he hears what has 
 taken place, for he has been sadly worried by these con- 
 stant complaints, and I fancy that the authorities have 
 heen rather down upon him on the subject. The 
 announcement that the career of this famous robber has 
 heen brought to an end will cause quite a sensation, and 
 people round the commons on the south side will sleep 
 more quietly than they have done lately. I expect that 
 if he had not put an end to himself we should have had 
 to send him across to Newington to-day, for of course 
 it is a Surrey business, though we have had the luck to 
 take him. I suppose we shall not see much of you in the 
 iuture, Mr. Thorndyke? " 
 
 " No indeed," Mark said. " My business is done, and 
 3 shall send in my resignation this morning. I don't 
 
COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 245 
 
 regret the time that I have spent over it; I have learned 
 a great deal, and have seen a lot of the shady side of 
 life, and have picked up experience in a good many 
 ways." 
 
 Mark, after requesting the Inspector to find a man to 
 go over to Streatham and bring back his horse, and 
 writing an order to the ostler to deliver it, walked across 
 to his lodgings. Upon the whole, he was not sorry that 
 Bastow had taken the matter into his own hands; he 
 had, certainly, while engaged in the search, looked forward 
 to seeing him in the dock and witnessing his execution, 
 but he now felt that enough had been done for vengeance, 
 and that it was as well that the matter had ended as it 
 had. He was wearied out with the excitement of the last 
 forty-eight hours. It was one o'clock when he awoke, 
 and after dressing and going into Covent Garden to 
 lunch at one of the coffee-houses, he made his way up to 
 Islington. 
 
 "Taking a day's holiday?" Millicent asked as he came in. 
 
 " Well, not exactly, Millicent; I have left school alto- 
 gether." 
 
 "Left school, Mark? Do you mean that you have 
 decided that it is of no use going on any longer? " 
 
 " I have given it up because I have finished it. Arthur 
 Bastow was captured last night, and committed suicide as 
 he was being taken to the station." 
 
 An exclamation of surprise broke from Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham and Millicent. 
 
 " It seems horrid to be glad that anyone has taken his 
 own life," the latter said; " but I cannot help feeling so, 
 for as long as he lived I should never have considered 
 that you were safe, and besides, I suppose there is no 
 doubt that if he had not killed himself he would have 
 been hung." 
 
 " There is not a shadow of doubt about that," Mark 
 replied. "We found the proceeds of a vast number of 
 fobberies at his place, and also in his pockets the money 
 he had taken from the passengers of the Portsmouth 
 coach an hour before we captured him. So that, putting 
 aside that Australian business altogether, his doom wa& 
 sealed." 
 
246 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 "Now, please, tell us all about it," Mrs. Cunningham 
 said. " But first let us congratulate you most warmly 
 not only on the success of your search, but that the work 
 is at an end." 
 
 " Yes, I am glad it is over. At first I was very much 
 interested; in fact, I was intensely interested all along,, 
 and should have been for however long it had continued. 
 But, at the same time, I could do nothing else, and one 
 does not want to spend one's whole life as a detective. 
 At last it came about almost by chance, and the only 
 thing I have to congratulate myself upon is that my 
 idea of the sort of place he would have taken was exactly 
 borne out by fact." And Mark then gave them a full 
 account of the manner in which the discovery had been 
 made a,nd the capture effected. 
 
 " You see, Millicent, I followed your injunction, and 
 was very careful. Taking him by surprise as I did, I 
 might have managed it single-handed, but with the aid of 
 two good men it made a certainty of it, and the whole 
 thing was comfortably arranged." 
 
 " I think you have done splendidly, Mark," Mrs. 
 Cunningham said. "It was certainly wonderful that 
 you should have found him doing exactly what you 
 had guessed, even down to the deaf servant. Well, 
 now that is done and over, what do you think of doing 
 next?" 
 
 " I have hardly thought about that," he replied; " but, 
 at any rate, I shall take a few weeks' holiday, and I 
 suppose after that I shall settle down to the search for my 
 uncle's treasure. I am afraid that will be a much longer 
 and a vastly more difficult business than this has been. 
 Here there were all sorts of clews to work upon. Bastow 
 ought to have been captured months ago, but in this 
 other affair, so far, there is next to nothing to follow up. 
 "We don't even know whether the things are in India or 
 in England. I believe they will be found, but that it 
 will be by an accident. Besides, I fancy that we shall hear 
 about them when you come of age, Millicent. There was 
 to have been no change till that time, and I cannot help 
 thinking that Uncle George must have made some pro- 
 visions by which we should get to know about them in 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 24 r 
 
 the event of his death without his having an opportunity 
 of telling anyone where they are. 
 
 " He might have been killed in battle; he might have 
 been drowned on his way home. He had thought the 
 whole matter over so thoroughly, I do think the possi- 
 bilities of this could not have escaped him. As I told 
 you, Mr. Prendergast made inquiries of all the principal 
 bankers and Indian agents here, and altogether without 
 success. After he had done that, I got a list of all the 
 leading firms in Calcutta and Madras, and wrote to them, 
 and all the replies were in the negative. It is true that 
 does not prove anything absolutely. Eighteen years is a 
 long time, and the chances are that during those years 
 almost every head of a firm would have retired and 
 come home. Such a matter would only be likely to be 
 known to the heads; and if, as we thought likely, the 
 box or chest was merely forwarded by a firm there to 
 England, the transaction would not have attracted any 
 special attention. If, upon the other hand, it remained 
 out there it might have been put down in a cellar or 
 store, and have been lying there ever since, altogether 
 forgotten." 
 
 " I don't see myself why you should bother any more 
 about it; perhaps, as you say, it will turn up of itself 
 when I come of age. At any rate, I should say it is 
 certainly as well to wait till then and see if it does, 
 especially as you acknowledge that you have no clew 
 whatever to work on. It is only three more years, for 
 I am eighteen next week, and it certainly seems to me 
 that it will be very foolish to spend the next three years 
 in searching about for a thing that may come to you with- 
 out any searching at all." 
 
 " Well, I will- think it over." 
 
 " You see, you really don't want the money, Mark," she 
 went on. 
 
 " No, I don't want it particularly, Millicent; but when 
 one knows that there is something like £50,000 waiting 
 for one somewhere, one would like to get it. Your father 
 worked for twenty years of his life accumulating it for us, 
 and it seems to me a sort of sacred duty to see that his 
 laboT has not all been thrown away." 
 
248 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Millicent was silent. 
 
 " It is very tiresome," she said presently. " Of course 
 my father intended, as you say, that his savings should 
 come to us, but I am sure he never meant that they 
 should be a bother and a trouble to us." 
 
 " I don't see why they should ever be that, Millicent. 
 As it is we have both sufficient for anything any man or 
 woman could reasonably want, and neither of us need 
 fret over it if the treasure is never found. Still, he 
 wished us to have it, and it is properly ours, and I don't 
 want it to go to enrich someone who has not a shadow of 
 si right to it." 
 
 On the following morning Mark went to attend the 
 inquest on Bastow. He did not go into the court, how- 
 ever, but remained close at hand in the event of the 
 coroner insisting upon his being called. However, the 
 two men only spoke casually in their evidence of their 
 comrade Eoberts, who had been also engaged in the 
 capture. One of the jurymen suggested that he should 
 also be called, but the coroner said: 
 
 " I really cannot see any occasion for it; we are here 
 to consider how the deceased came by his death, and I 
 think it must be perfectly clear that he came by it by 
 his own act. You have heard how he was captured, that 
 the spoils of the coach that he had just rifled were found 
 Tipon him, and that the booty he had been acquiring from 
 ihis deeds for months past also was seized; therefore, as 
 the man was desperate, and knew well enough that his 
 life was forfeited, there was ample motive for his putting 
 an end to his wretched existence. I really do not think, 
 gentlemen, that it is worth while to waste your time and 
 mine by going into further evidence." 
 
 Finally, a verdict of felo de se was returned, with a 
 strong expression of the jury's admiration of the conduct 
 of constables Malcolm, Chester, and Eoberts, who had so 
 cleverly effected the capture of the man who had so long 
 set the law at defiance. 
 
CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 Four days later Mark, on his return from dinner, found 
 Philip Cotter sitting in his room waiting for him. They 
 had met on the previous evening, and Cotter had expressed 
 his intention of calling upon him the next day. 
 
 " I am here on a matter of business, Thorndyke," the 
 latter said as they shook hands. 
 
 " Of business! " Mark repeated. 
 
 " Yes. You might guess for a year, and I don't suppose 
 that you would hit it. It is rather a curious thing. 
 Nearly twenty years ago " 
 
 " I can guess it before you go any further," Mark 
 exclaimed, leaping up from the seat that he had just 
 taken. " Your people received a box from India." 
 
 " That is so Mark; although how you guessed it I don't 
 know." 
 
 " We have been searching for it for years," Mark 
 replied. " Our lawyer, Prendergast, wrote to you about 
 that box; at least, he wrote to you asking if you had any 
 property belonging to Colonel Thorndyke, and your people 
 wrote to say they hadn't." 
 
 " Yes, I remember I wrote to him myself. Of course 
 that was before you did me that great service, and I did 
 not know your name, and we had not the name on our 
 books. What is in the box? " 
 
 " Jewels worth something like fifty thousand pounds." 
 
 " By Jove, I congratulate you, old fellow; that is to 
 6ay, if you have the handling of it. Well, this is what 
 happened. The box was sent to us by a firm in Calcutta, 
 together with bills for £50,000. The instructions were 
 that the money was to be invested in stock, and that we 
 were to manage it and to take £100 a year for so doing. 
 The rest of the interest of the money was to be invested. 
 The box was a very massive one, and was marked with 
 the letters X. Y. Z. It was very carefully sealed. Our 
 
 249 
 
250 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 instructions were that the owner of the box and the 
 money might present himself at any time." 
 
 " And that the proof of his ownership was to be that 
 he was to use the word ' Masulipatam,' " Mark broke in, 
 " and produce a gold coin that would, probably — though 
 of this I am not certain — correspond with the seals." He 
 got up and went to the cabinet which he had brought up 
 with him from Crowswood, unlocked it, and produced the 
 piece of paper and the coin. 
 
 " Yes, that looks like the seal, Thorndyke. At any rate, 
 it is the same sort of thing. Why on earth didn't you 
 come with it before, and take the things away? " 
 
 " Simply because I did not know where to go to. My 
 uncle was dying when he came home, and told my father 
 about the treasure, but he died suddenly, and my father 
 did not know whether it was sent to England or com- 
 mitted to someone's charge in India, or buried there. 
 We did the only thing we could, namely, inquired at all 
 the banks and agents here and at all the principal firms 
 in Madras and Calcutta to ask if they had in their 
 possession any property belonging to the late Colonel 
 Thorndyke." 
 
 " You see, we did not know," Cotter went on, " any 
 more than Adam, to whom the box belonged. Fortu- 
 nately, the agent sent in his communication a sealed let- 
 ter, on the outside of which was written, ' This is to re- 
 main unopened, but if no one before that date presents 
 himself with the token and password, it is to be read on 
 the 18th of August, 1789/ That was yesterday, you 
 know." 
 
 " Yes, that was my cousin's eighteenth birthday. We 
 thought if my uncle had left the box in anyone's charge 
 he would probably have given him some such instructions, 
 for at that time there was hard fighting in India, and he 
 might have been killed any day, and would therefore 
 naturally have made some provisions for preventing the 
 secret dying with him." 
 
 " We did not think of it until this morning early, 
 though we have been rather curious over it ourselves. 
 When we opened it, inside was another letter addressed 
 ' To be delivered to John Thorndyke, Esquire, at Crawley, 
 
■'COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 251 
 
 near Hastings, or at Crowswood, Reigate, or in the event 
 of his death to his executors.' " 
 
 " I am one of his executors," Mark said: " Mr. Prender- 
 gast, the lawyer, is the other. I think 1 had better go 
 round to him to-morrow and open the letter there." 
 
 " Oh, I should think you might open it at once, Thorn- 
 dyke. It will probably only contain instructions, and, 
 at any rate, as you have the coin and the word, you could 
 come round to-morrow morning and get the chest out if 
 you want it." 
 
 " I won't do that," Mark said; " the coffer contains 
 gems worth over £50,000, and I would very much rather 
 it remained in your keeping until I decide what to do 
 with it. How large is it ? " 
 
 " It is a square box, about a foot each way; and it is 
 pretty heavy, probably from the setting of the jewels. 
 Well, anyhow, I am heartily glad, Thorndyke. I know, 
 of course, that you are well off, still £100,000 — for the 
 money has doubled itself since we had it — to say nothing 
 of the jewels, is a nice plum to drop into anyone's 
 mouth." 
 
 " Very nice indeed, although only half of it comes to 
 me under my uncle's will. To tell you the truth, I am 
 more glad that the mystery has been solved than at^ 
 getting 4;he money; the affair was a great worry to my 
 father, and has been so to me. I felt that I ought to 
 search for the treasure, and yet the probability of finding 
 it seemed so small that I felt the thing was hopeless, and 
 that really the only chance was that my uncle would 
 have taken just the course he did, and have fixed some 
 date when the treasure should be handed over, if not asked 
 for. I rather fancied that it would not have been for 
 another three years, for that is when my cousin comes of 
 age." 
 
 "What cousin do you mean?" Philip Cotter asked. 
 " I did not know you had one." 
 
 " Well, that is at present a secret, Cotter — one of the 
 mysteries connected with my uncle's will. For myself, I 
 would tell it in the market-place to-morrow, but she 
 wishes it to be preserved at present; you shall certainly 
 know as soon as anyone. By the way, I have not seen 
 
252 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 you at Mrs. Cunningham's for the last week, and you 
 used to be a pretty regular visitor." 
 
 " No," the young man said gloomily; " I don't mind 
 telling you that Miss Conyers refused me a fortnight ago. 
 I never thought that I had much chance, but I had just 
 a shadow of hope, and that is at an end now." 
 
 " Perhaps in the future " Mark suggested for the 
 
 sake of saying something. 
 
 " No; I said as much as that to her, and she replied 
 that it would always be the same, and I gathered from 
 her manner, although she did not exactly say so, that 
 there was someone else in the case, and yet I have never 
 met anyone often there." 
 
 " Perhaps you are mistaken," Mark said. 
 
 " Well, whether or not, there is clearly no hope for me. 
 I am very sorry, but it is no use moping over it. My 
 father and mother like her so much, and they are anxious 
 for me to marry and settle down; altogether, it would 
 have been just the thing. I do not know whether she 
 has any money, and did not care, for of course I shall 
 have plenty. I shall be a junior partner in another six 
 months; my father told me so the other day. He said 
 that at one time he was afraid that I should never come 
 into the house, for that it would not have been fair to 
 the others to take such a reckless fellow in, but that I 
 seemed to have reformed so thoroughly since that affair 
 that if I continued so for another six months they should 
 have no hesitation in giving me a share." 
 
 It was too late to go up to Islington that evening. In 
 the morning Mark went with the still unopened letter to 
 the solicitor's. The old lawyer congratulated him most 
 heartily when he told him of the discovery that he had 
 made. 
 
 " I am glad indeed, Mark; not so much for the sake 
 of the money, but because I was afraid that that con- 
 founded treasure was going to unsettle your life. When 
 a man once begins treasure-hunting it becomes a sort of 
 craze, and he can no more give it up than an opium 
 smoker can the use of the drug. Thank goodness, that is 
 over; so the capital amount is doubled, and you are 
 accordingly worth £70,000 more than you were this time 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'8 SECRET.' 253 
 
 yesterday — a fine windfall! Now let us see what your 
 uncle says." 
 
 He broke the seal. The letter was a short one, and 
 began: 
 
 " My Dear John: 
 
 "•If you have not, before you receive this, got my 
 treasure, you will get it on the 18th or 19th of August, 
 1789. I have made a will which will give you full instruc- 
 tions what to do with it. I may say, though, that I have 
 left it between a little daughter who was born six months 
 ago, and your son Mark. My own intentions are to stop 
 out here until I get the rank of general, and I have taken 
 the measures that I have done in case a bullet or a sharp 
 attack of fever carries me off suddenly. I hope that 
 you will have carried out the provisions of my will, and 
 I hope also that I shall have come home and talked the 
 whole matter over with you before I go under. 
 
 " Your affectionate brother." 
 
 " A singular man," Mr. Prendergast said, as he laid the 
 letter down on the table beside him. " What trouble 
 these crotchety people do give! I suppose you have alto- 
 gether put aside that folly of his about the jewels?" 
 
 " Well, no, I can't say that I have, Mr. Prendergast. 
 Do you know that I have a fancy — it may only be a fancy, 
 but if so, I cannot shake it off — that I am watched by 
 Lascars. There was one standing at the corner of the 
 street as I came up this morning, and again and again I 
 have run across one. It is not always the same man, nor 
 have I any absolute reasons for believing that they are 
 watching me; still, somehow or other, I do come across 
 them more frequently than seems natural." 
 
 "Pooh, nonsense, Mark! I should have thought that 
 you were too sensible a fellow to have such ridiculous 
 fancies in your head." 
 
 " Of course, I should never have thought of such a 
 thing, Mr. Prendergast, if it had not been for what my 
 father told me, that my uncle was desperately in earnest 
 about it, and had an intense conviction that someone 
 watched his every movement." 
 
254 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " Don't let us talk of such folly any longer," the lawyer 
 said irritably. " Now that you have got the money, the 
 best thing you can do is to go at once and carry out 
 what was the wish both of your father and your uncle, 
 and ask your cousin to marry you; that will put an end 
 to the whole business, and I can tell you that I am 
 positivel} T convinced that the day she gets twenty-one she 
 will renounce the property, and that if you refuse to take 
 it she will pass it over to some hospital or other. You 
 cannot do better than prevent her from carrying out 
 such an act of folly as that, and the only way that I can 
 see is by your marrying her. I gathered from what you 
 said when I gave you the same advice at Eeigate that you 
 liked her and should have done it had it not been for her 
 coming into the estate instead of you. Well, you are now 
 in a position to ask her to marry you without the possi- 
 bility of its being supposed that you are a fortune- 
 hunter." 
 
 " I will think about it, Mr. Prendergast. Of course 
 this money does make a considerable difference in my 
 position; however, I shall do nothing until I have got the 
 jewels off my hands." 
 
 " Well, a couple of days will manage that," the lawyer 
 said; " you have only got to take the box to a first-class 
 jeweler, and get him to value the things and make you an 
 offer for the whole of them." 
 
 Mark did not care to press the subject, and on leaving 
 went to Cotter's Bank. He was at once shown into his 
 friend's room, and the latter took him to his father. 
 
 " It is curious, Mr. Thorndyke," the latter said heartily, 
 " that we should have been keeping your money all this 
 time without having the slightest idea that it belonged 
 to you. We are ready at once to pay it over to your 
 order, for if you pronounce the word you know of, and 
 I find that the coin you have corresponds with the seal 
 on the box, the necessary proof will be given us that you 
 have authority to take it away. I have had the box 
 brought up this morning, so that we can compare the 
 seal." i 
 
 The box was taken out of the strong safe, and it was at 
 once seen that the coin corresponded with the seals. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 255 
 
 " I will leave it with you for the present, Mr. Cotter; 
 it contains a large amount of jewels, and until I have 
 decided what to do with them I would rather leave them; 
 it would he madness to have £50,000 worth of gems in 
 a London lodging, even for a single night. As to the 
 money, that also had better remain as it is at present 
 invested. As I told your son — that and the jewels are 
 the joint property of myself and another. I dare say 
 that in a few days half of the money will be transferred 
 to the name of the other legatee; that can be easily done. 
 I shall get my lawyer, Mr. Prendergast, to call upon you, 
 Mr. Cotter. I suppose it would be better that some legal 
 proof that we are entitled to the money should be 
 given." 
 
 " I shall be glad to see him and to take his instructions," 
 the banker said; " but in point of fact I regard the prop- 
 erty as yours; I have nothing to do with wills or 
 other arrangements. I simply received the box and the 
 cash with an order that they should be delivered to 
 whomsoever should come with the word ' Masulipatam ' 
 and a coin to match the seals. That you have done, and 
 with subsequent dispositions I have no concern. I shall 
 be happy to keep this box for you as long as you should 
 think proper; and I have also written out an acknowl- 
 edgement that I hold securities of the value, at the clos- 
 ing prices yesterday, of £103,000 16s./" and he handed 
 the paper to Mark. 
 
 As the latter left the bank he looked up and down the 
 street, and muttered an angry exclamation as he caught 
 sight of a rough-looking fellow just turning a corner into 
 a side street. The glance was so momentary a one that 
 he could not say whether the man was a colored seaman; 
 but he certainly thought that he was a Lascar. 
 
 " I am going to have trouble about that bracelet," he 
 said to himself, as he hailed a hackney coach and told 
 him to drive to Islington. "I am convinced that the 
 Colonel was right, and that there are some men over in 
 this country with the fixed purpose of seeing what is done 
 n-ith those jewels, and obtaining them if possible. TIow 
 they could tell that they were deposited at Cotter's beats 
 me altogether. It may be indeed that they really knew 
 
256 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 nothing about it, and have simply been watching me. 
 They can hardly have been watching me for the last nine 
 months, and yet, curiously enough, though I have never 
 given the matter a thought since, Charley Gibbons said 
 that it was a dark-colored man who brought the news 
 that took them to my rescue and saved my life. I have 
 often run against Lascars, and if they have taken this 
 trouble all along, now that they have seen me come out 
 of the bank, I shall be watched night and day. 
 
 " It is a creepy sort of idea. I should not be afraid of 
 any number of them if they attacked me openly; but 
 there is no saying what they might do. I wish Eamoo 
 had been here. I would have consulted him about it; 
 but as I got a letter from him only last week saying that 
 he had, on the day of writing it, arrived in Calcutta, it 
 is of no use wishing that. At any rate, I cannot do} 
 better than stick to the plan that my uncle sketched out, 
 and take them across to Amsterdam. It would be very 
 unfair to take them to any jeweler here. He might have 
 them in his possession for a week or ten da}^s before he 
 made me any definite offer for them, and during trjat 
 time I would not give a fig for his life. If I distribute 
 the stones at Amsterdam they would hardly set about 
 attacking twelve diamond merchants one after another. 
 Well, at any rate, I must say nothing about the affair to 
 Millicent and Mrs. Cunningham. It was bad enough my 
 running risks in the pursuit of Bastow; but this would 
 be ten times worse, and I know Millicent would be for 
 letting the things remain for good at the banker's. But 
 I have no idea of allowing myself to be frightened by two 
 or three black scoundrels into throAving away £50,000." 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham and Millicent were sitting in their 
 bonnets in the parlor. 
 
 " Here you are at last, sir," the girl said. " Another 
 five minutes, and we should have gone out. You told us 
 that you would come early, and now it is twelve o'clock; 
 and you are generally so punctual in your appointments. 
 What have you got to say for yourself? " 
 
 " A good many things have happened since then, Milli- 
 cent. Last night your friend Mr. Cotter called upon, 
 me." 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 257 
 
 "Why do you say' my friend? He was your friend, 
 and it was entirely through you that we knew him at all." 
 
 " Well, we will say ' our friend/ Millicent; and he 
 made a communication to me that this morning I had to 
 go to Mr. Prendergast and make a communication to him." 
 
 " What do you mean by your communications ? " Milli- 
 cent asked, laughing. " You are quite mysterious, Mark." 
 
 " And then I had to go," he went on, without heeding 
 her interruption, " to Cotter's Bank, where I saw both 
 our friend and his father, and there is the result of these 
 communications and that interview; " and he threw the 
 paper to her. 
 
 " What does it mean? " she asked in astonishment, after 
 glancing through it. 
 
 " It means, dear, that your father took exactly the 
 precautions I thought he would take, and after sending 
 his money and jewels home, he sent a sealed letter to the 
 firm with whom he deposited them, which happened to 
 be Cotter's, with instructions that should no one present 
 himself with the word and coin by the 18th of August, 
 1789 — that is to say, on your eighteenth birthday — the 
 envelope should be opened; it was so opened, and it con- 
 tained a letter that was to be sent to my father, or, in 
 the case of his death before that date, to his executors." 
 
 " How wonderful! " the girl said. " I had quite given 
 up all idea of it. But how is it that it came to be so 
 much? Have they sold the jewels? " 
 
 " No; you see it is the compound interest going on 
 for seventeen years, and perhaps some rise in the value 
 of the securities, that has doubled the original sum in- 
 vested. As for the jewels, I have left them at the bank; 
 I should not care about having £50,000 worth of such 
 things in my rooms and I should not think that you 
 would like to have them here, either." 
 
 " Certainly not," Mrs. Cunningham said emphatically; 
 " you did quite right, Mark. I don't think I could sleep, 
 even if you had half a dozen of your detective friends 
 po? ted round the house." 
 
 " Still I suppose we shall have a chance of seeing 
 them? " Millicent said. 
 
 " Certainly. 1 can make an appointment with Philip 
 
258 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Cotter for you see them at the bank; or if I take them 
 to a jeweler to value, you could see them there. But I 
 should think that the bank would be the best. I am sure 
 that Cotter would put his room at your disposal, and, 
 of course, if you would like to have some of them for 
 yourself you could select any you liked, but I expect 
 that they won't look much in their present settings; the 
 Indian jewelers have not the knack of setting off gems. 
 However, there is no hurry about them one way or. 
 another. The money, I have told Cotter's father, shall, 
 for the present, remain as it is invested; it is all in the 
 Funds, Cotter said, for although the instructions were 
 that it was to be put into good securities, he did not feel 
 justified under the peculiar circumstances in going outside 
 Government stock. Mr. Prendergast is quite of opinion 
 that it would be better to make no change until you come 
 of age. I did not know whether you would wait till then, 
 for some purpose or other you might want to use some 
 of it." 
 
 Millicent shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " I think I would much rather have had just the money 
 I had before, Mark; all this will be a great nuisance, I 
 am sure. I think there ought to be a law against women 
 having more than £20,000, whether in money or in 
 land." 
 
 Mark laughed. 
 
 " It would be a bad thing for spendthrift young noble- 
 men, Millicent. How are they to pay off their debts and 
 mortgages if there were no heiresses ready to do so in 
 exchange for a title? " 
 
 " It would be a good thing for them, I consider," the 
 girl said indignantly. " In the first place, they would 
 not impoverish themselves if they knew that there was 
 no way of building up their fortune again, and in the 
 next place, if they did ruin themselves they would have 
 to either set to work to earn an honest living or blow 
 out their brains, if they have any to blow out. I can 
 assure you that I don't feel at all exultant at getting all 
 this money, and I think that my father was quite right 
 in wishing that I should know nothing about it until I 
 married; but, on the other hand, I am heartily glad, more 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 259 
 
 glad than I can say, Mark, that you have come into your 
 share." 
 
 " I am glad for one reason, Millicent; that is, that 
 this must put an end to the ridiculous idea you have of 
 giving up Crowswood. Your father has made me rich 
 beyond anything I could possibly have expected from him. 
 I suddenly find myself a wealthy man, and I can buy 
 another estate for myself worth more than Crowswood if 
 inclined to settle down as a squire; therefore your theory 
 that I have been disappointed in not inheriting what I 
 thought was my father's estate falls to the ground alto- 
 gether. In no case would I ever have accepted your 
 sacrifice. If you had liked to hand it over to St. Bar- 
 tholomew's or Guy's Hospital, or to give it away to any 
 other charity, I would not have prevented you, but I 
 would never have accepted it for myself. Now, thank 
 goodness, the question cannot arise; for you must see 
 that, even looking at the matter from a purely business 
 point of view, I have benefited to an enormous and alto- 
 gether unexpected extent by your father's will, and if 
 any contest between us could arise it should be on the 
 ground that he has acted unfairly to you by giving me 
 so large a proportion of the money that, in the course of 
 nature, you should have inherited. It was not even as if 
 he had known and liked me, for I was but four years old 
 at the time he wrote the letter saying that I was to share 
 the money and jewels with you." 
 
 " You are very obstinate and very disagreeable, Mark," 
 she said, with tears in her eyes. 
 
 " I think the obstinacy has been principally on your 
 side, Millicent; though certainly I should not think of say- 
 ing that you have been disagreeable. It has been an 
 excess of kindheartedness on your part, and you have 
 resolutely closed your eyes to the fact that, had I been 
 willing to take advantage of your generosity, I should have 
 lacked the courage to do so, for I should have been pointed 
 at wherever I went, as a mean fellow who took advantage 
 of his little cousin's romantic generosity. Pray, dear, let 
 us say no more about it. We are two rich young people; 
 we have both an estate; yours, I grant, is the larger, but 
 if I choose I can increase mine, until it is quite as large as 
 
260 COLONEL THOBNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Crowswood. We can be better friends than we have been 
 for the last year, because this point of dispute has always 
 stood between us and made us uncomfortable. Now you 
 will have to think over what you would like done, and 
 whether you wish any change made in your manner of 
 living." 
 
 " Did you tell Mr. Cottef," Millicent laughed, after a 
 pause, " that I had a half-share in the money? " 
 
 " No, that was a matter for you to decide, not for me. 
 I told him that I was only a half-shareholder, but there 
 was no necessity to say who it was who had the other 
 half. When I was talking to Philip Cotter, the words 
 1 my cousin ' slipped out, but he did not associate it in 
 any way with you. It might have been the son of another 
 brother or of a sister of my father's." 
 
 " In that case, then, we will certainly make no change, 
 will we, Mrs. Cunningham?" 
 
 " I think, Millicent, that Mr. Prendergast and Mark 
 will probably be of opinion that you ought now to be 
 introduced regularly into society. The fact that you are 
 a rich heiress might, as your father so much wished, 
 remain a secret. But it is one thing having this blazoned 
 about and quite another for you to be living quietly here, 
 where, with the exception of Mr. Cotter and a few other 
 friends, you have no society whatever. Certainly it was 
 not the wish of your father that you should remain 
 unmarried. You are quite pretty and nice enough to be 
 sought for yourself alone, and I must say that I think, 
 now that you have finished with your various masters, it 
 would be well that you should go out a good deal more, 
 and that as a first step we should go down to Bath this 
 year instead of paying another visit to Weymouth, as we 
 had arranged." 
 
 " I don't want any change at all, Mrs. Cunningham. 
 If I am to get married I shall be married; if I am not I 
 shall not fret about it." 
 
 "But for all that, Millicent," Mark said, "Mrs. 
 Cunningham is right. We quite agree that there is no 
 occasion whatever for you to go about labeled ' A good 
 estate and over £70,000 in cash,' but I do think that it 
 is right that you should go into society. With the 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 261 
 
 exception of Philip Cotter, Dick Chetwynd, and two or 
 three other of my friends, you really know very few 
 people. You have now gone out of mourning, and I 
 think that Mrs. Cunningham's proposal that you should 
 go down to Bath is a very good one. I shall not be sorry 
 for a change myself, for I have been engrossed in my 
 work for a long time now. I can go down a day or two 
 before you, and get you comfortable lodgings, and will 
 myself stay at a hotel. Although I have no intimate 
 friends beyond those from Keigate, I know a large number 
 of men of fashion from meeting them at the boxing 
 schools and other places, and could introduce you both, 
 and get you into society." 
 
 " I am altogether opposed to the idea/' Millicent said 
 decidedly. " You want to trot me out like a horse for 
 sale." 
 
 " No, Millicent," Mark said calmly. " I only want you 
 to have the same advantages that other girls have, 
 neither more nor less, and for you to enjoy yourself as 
 others do. There is nothing undignified or objectionable 
 about that, especially as we are agreed that nothing shall 
 be said about your fortune. Well, we will think it over. 
 Mr. Prendergast and I certainly do not wish to act as 
 tyrants, and there is no occasion to come to a decision in 
 a hurry. We have only discovered our good fortune to- 
 day, and can scarcely appreciate the difference that it will 
 make to us. We can think over what will be for the best 
 at our leisure, and see if we cannot hit upon some plan 
 that will be agreeable to you." 
 
 " Thank you, Mark," she said gratefully. " I am afraid 
 that you must think me very disagreeable and cross; 
 but though you, as a man, have not the same sort of feel- 
 ings, I can assure you that I feel all this money and so 
 on to be a heavy burden; and were it not for your sake I 
 could wish heartily that this treasure had never been 
 discovered at all." 
 
 " I can quite understand that," he said quietly. " At 
 the present moment, even, I do not see that it will be of 
 much advantage to me; but it may be that some day I 
 shall see it in a different light. It has come upon me 
 almost as suddenly as it has upon you. I thought that 
 
262 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 after I had finished with the Bastow affair I should set 
 to work to find out this treasure, and that it would 
 probably take me out to India, occupy me there for 
 some time, and that afterwards I might travel through 
 other places, and bs away from England three or four 
 years. Now the matter is altogether altered, and I shall 
 be some time before I form any fresh plans. In fact, 
 these must depend upon circumstances." 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham had left the room two or three 
 minutes before, thinking that Mark might be able to talk 
 her charge into a more reasonable state of mind were he 
 alone with h<er, and he added: 
 
 " Of one circumstance in particular." 
 
 She looked up inquiringly. 
 
 " Well, Millicent, it depends a great deal upon you. I 
 know you think that all that has happened during the 
 past year has been a little hard upon you, and I 
 thoroughly agree with you; you were fond of Crowswood, 
 and were very happy there, and the change to this 
 somewhat dull house, just at a time when you are of an 
 age to enjoy pleasure, has been a trial. Then, too, there 
 has been this question of the estate upon your mind. 
 But you must remember it has been somewhat of a trial 
 to me also. I grant that I have had plenty of occupation 
 which has been in every way beneficial to me, and have 
 not at all lamented leaving the country, but in one respect 
 it has been a trial. I don't know whether it ever entered 
 your mind, before that sad time at home, that I was 
 getting to care for you in a very different way to that in 
 which I had done before. 
 
 " My father, I think, observed it, for he threw out a 
 very plain hint once that he would very gladly see us 
 coming together. However, I never spoke of it to you. 
 I was young and you were young. It seemed to me that 
 there was plenty of time, and that, moreover, it would 
 not be fair for me to speak to you until you had had the 
 opportunity of going out and of seeing other men. Then 
 came the evening before his death, when my father told 
 me how matters really stood, and he again said that there 
 was a way by which all trouble could be obviated. But 
 I saw that it was not so, and that the hope I had enter- 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 263 
 
 tained must be put aside. I had never told you I loved 
 you when I seemed to be the heir of the property and 
 you only the daughter of an old comrade of his, and I 
 saw that were I to speak now, when you were the heiress, 
 it could not but appear to you that it was the estate and 
 not you that I wanted, and I felt my lips were sealed for- 
 ever. Mr. Prendergast said that day when he came down 
 to the funeral, and you told him that you would not take 
 the property, that it might be managed in another way, 
 and you said that you did not want to be married for 
 your money; so you see you saw it in exactly the same 
 light as I did. 
 
 " My first thought this morning, when Mr. Cotter told 
 me that the money had mounted up to over £100,000, was 
 that it would unseal my lips. You were still better off 
 than I was, but the difference was now immaterial. I was 
 a rich man, and had not the smallest occasion to marry 
 for money. Whether I married a girl without a penny, 
 or an heiress, could make but little difference to me, as 
 I have certainly no ambition to become a great landowner. 
 I still think that it would have been more fair to you to 
 give you the opportunity of seeing more of the society 
 of the world before speaking to you, but you see you are 
 opposed to that, and therefore it would be the same did 
 I wait patiently another year, which I don't think I 
 should be able to do. I love you, Millicent. It is only 
 during the past eighteen months, when I have thought 
 that I had lost you, that I have known how much I love 
 you, and how much my happiness depends upon you. I 
 can truly say that were you penniless, it would make no 
 shadow of difference to me. It is no longer a question 
 of arranging matters comfortably: it is a question of 
 love. The estate is nothing to me. It never has been 
 anything, and it does not count at all in the scale. I 
 hope that you will put it altogether out of your mind in 
 giving me an answer; and that if you cannot say as 
 truly and wholly as I do, ' I love you,' that you will 
 say as frankly as you have always ppoken to me, ■ I 
 love you verv much as a cousin, Mane, but not in that 
 way.'" 
 
 The girl had sat perfectly quiet while he was speaking. 
 
264 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 He was standing before her now, and he took one of her 
 hands. 
 
 " I love yon, dear; I love you with all my heart. Do you 
 love me? " 
 
 Then she looked up and rose to her feet, and placed 
 both hands upon his shoulders. 
 
 " As you love me, so I love you, Mark." 
 
 After that, conversation languished till Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham came into the room, five minutes later. 
 
 " We have come to the conclusion, Mrs. Cunningham," 
 he said, " that there will be no necessity for the visit to 
 Bath. Millicent is otherwise provided for; she has 
 promised to be my wife." 
 
 " I am glad, Mark, glad indeed! " and she took Millicent 
 in her arms and kissed her tenderly. " I have all along 
 hoped for it, but I began to be afraid that you were 
 both such obstinate young people that it would never 
 come about. I know that your father wished it, Mark, 
 and he told me that his brother had said that it would 
 be a good arrangement if some day you should come to 
 like each other. I have guessed for the last year, and, 
 indeed, before then, that Millicent would not say ' No ' if 
 you ever asked her; but this stupid estate seemed to 
 stand in the way. Of late, I have even come to hope that 
 the obstinate girl would keep to her intention, and that 
 if, as I knew would be the case, you refused to take the 
 estate, she would give it away to some charity. In that 
 case, there could be nothing to prevent your speaking; 
 and even then you would have been between you very 
 fairly equipped with this world's goods. However, the 
 present is a far better solution, and the discovery of the 
 treasure has saved you from three years' waiting before 
 things were straightened out. I feel as if I were her 
 mother, Mark, having had her in my charge since she 
 was a baby; and as she grew up it became my fondest 
 hope to see you united some day, and I think that I 
 am almost as pleased that my hope has been fulfilled as 
 you are yourselves." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 After thinking over the best way in which to set about 
 the work of carrying the diamonds to Amsterdam, Mark 
 decided upon asking the advice of his late chief. The 
 latter said, as Mark entered his room: 
 
 " I did not expect to see you here again, Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke." 
 
 " Well, sir, I have come to ask your advice about an- 
 other matter altogether." 
 
 " What is it now? " 
 
 " I have to convey a diamond bracelet of very great 
 value across to Amsterdam. I have reasons to believe 
 that there is a plot to seize it on the way, and that the 
 men engaged will hesitate at nothing to achieve their 
 object. Under these circumstances I should be very 
 much obliged if you will tell me what would be the best 
 course to pursue. I must say that the bracelet is, with 
 many other jewels, in a strong teak box of about a foot 
 square, at present in the possession of our bankers; they 
 were brought from India by my uncle. I imagine that 
 the rest of the jewels are of comparatively little impor- 
 tance in the eyes of these men, though doubtless they 
 would take them also if they lay their hands on them. 
 The bracelet, however, is of special interest to them, not 
 so much for its intrinsic value, as because it was stolen 
 from one of their sacred idols. 
 
 " This was about twenty years ago; but I have reason 
 to believe that the search for it on the part of some 
 Hindoos connected with the temple has never ceased. 
 The soldier who took it was murdered; his comrade, into 
 whose hands they next passed, was also murdered. They 
 next came to my uncle, who forwarded it at once to 
 England. His bungalows were searched again and again, 
 until probably the fellows came to the conclusion that 
 he must have either buried it or sent it away. Neverthe- 
 less, to the day of his death he was firmly convinced that 
 
 2C5 
 
266 COLONEL THOBNDYEE'S SECRET. 
 
 he was closely followed, and every movement watched. 
 He warned my father solemnly that he too would be 
 watched, but as far as we know it was not so; at any 
 rate, we had no reason to suppose that the house was ever 
 entered. On the other hand, I am* convinced I have been 
 watched more or less closely ever since I came up to 
 town, and as I came out from the bank yesterday I saw a 
 man — a colored fellow, I believe — on the watch. 
 
 " My uncle said that my life would not be worth an 
 hour's purchase so long as I had the bracelet in my 
 possession, and advised that it should be taken straight 
 over to Amsterdam, broken up, and the diamonds sold 
 singly to the merchants there/' - 
 
 " It is a curious story, Mr. Thorndyke. I own to 
 ignorance of these Indian thieves and their ways, but 
 it certainly seems extraordinary that so hopeless a quest 
 should be kept up for so long a time. You are sure that 
 it is not fancy on your part that you have been watched? 
 I know you are not the sort of man to take fancies in 
 your head, but as you have had the matter so strongly im- 
 pressed upon you, you might naturally have been inclined 
 to think this would be the case when it was not so." 
 
 " No, I don't think there is any chance of my being 
 mistaken. It is only of late that I have thought about 
 it, but when I did so and thought over what had passed 
 since I came to London, I recalled the fact that I had 
 very often come across foreign seamen; sometimes they 
 were Lascars, at others they might have been Italian or 
 Spanish seamen; and you see, sir, it was, as I told you 
 at the time, some foreign sailor who came and informed 
 Gibbons that I had fallen into the hands of a gang of 
 criminals, and that I should certainly be killed if I was not 
 rescued immediately. Gibbons at once got together half 
 a dozen fighting men, and, as you know, rescued me jast 
 in time. It was extraordinary that the man never came 
 forward to obtain any reward." 
 
 " That was a friendly act, Mr. Thorndyke." 
 
 "Yes, I have no reason to suppose that these men 
 would be hostile to me personally; I was not the thief. 
 I was simply the person who happened to be in possession, 
 or, rather, might come into possession of the bracelet. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 267 
 
 From the close watch they had kept, they were, I imagine, 
 well aware that I had not got it, but may have thought, 
 and doubtless did think, that I had some clew to its hid- 
 ing-place, and should sooner or later get it. With my 
 death the clew might be finally lost, and my life was con- 
 sequently of extreme importance to them, and therefore 
 they took steps to have me rescued, and the fact that they 
 learned this and knew how friendly I was with Gibbons 
 shows how close was the watch kept over me. No doubt, 
 had Gibbons refused to help them, they would have come 
 here at once." 
 
 " Certainly, after what you say it would seem that 
 your conjecture is right, and in this case, if I were you, 
 I should take the bracelet out of the case and conceal 
 it about me. I would not fetch it myself from the 
 bank." 
 
 " I don't think I should be much safer so," Mark said 
 thoughtfully. " In the first place, I must go to the bank 
 to get them, and I might be murdered merely on the 
 supposition that I had brought the bracelet away. In the 
 next place, even if I got to Amsterdam safely and got rid 
 of the bracelet and returned unnoticed by them, a fresh 
 danger would arise when I got the other gems into my 
 possession, for they could not be certain whether the 
 diamonds were still among them or not." 
 
 " I should hardly think that would be the case if 
 they watch you as strictly as you believe. Even if none 
 of them accompanied you, they would soon find out what 
 diamond merchants you went to, and the leader might 
 call upon these men, stating that he was commissioned 
 to purchase some diamonds of exceptional value for an 
 Eastern Prince, in which case he would be sure to obtain 
 sight of them. 
 
 I " If I had your business to perform, I would not go 
 near the bank again, but would send some friend I could 
 trust to go and open the box, and take out the bracelet, 
 and make it into a small parcel. He should hand it to 
 you privately, as you are on your way to embark for 
 Amsterdam. Then I would take with me one or two of 
 my men, and, say, a couple of your prizefighters, and with 
 such a guard you ought to be fairly safe." 
 
268 COLONEL THORNDTEE'S SECRET. 
 
 " I think that is a capital plan," Mark said, " and if 
 I don't go to the bank there will be nothing to lead them 
 to suppose that I have taken them out, or that I am just 
 going across to Holland." 
 
 Mark then went straight to Dick Chetwynd's lodgings. 
 
 " I want you to do me a service, Dick," he said. 
 
 " With pleasure, Mark. What sort of service is it? If 
 it is anything in my power, you know that you can abso- 
 lutely rely upon me. You are not going to fight a duel, 
 are you, and want a second? " 
 
 " No; quite another sort of business. I will tell you 
 shortly what it is. I have to convey an extremely valuable 
 diamond bracelet to Amsterdam, and I have reason to 
 believe that there will be an attempt to murder me, and 
 to carry off the jewels before I can dispose of them. It 
 happened in this way; " and he then related the history 
 of the diamonds, the^ reason he was followed, and the 
 suggestions that the Chief of the Bow Street detectives 
 had given him. 
 
 " That is all right," Dick said, when he concluded. 
 " It is a rum business, but certainly I will do what you 
 ask me; and, what is more, I will go over with you to 
 Amsterdam, and see the thing through. It is an interest- 
 ing business, if it is a queer one." 
 
 " You know Philip Cotter? " 
 
 " Of course, Mark; why, I have met him with you 
 several times." 
 
 " I will give you a note to ask him to allow you to 
 open the case, and to take from it the bracelet; I don't 
 know whether it is a regular gold-mounted bracelet, or 
 simply some diamonds that have been fastened together 
 as a necklace; however, I suppose you are sure to recog- 
 nize them; they are altogether exceptional stones, and 
 will certainly be done up in a packet by themselves, 
 Avhatever the others may be. Say that you will call in 
 and take them away some other time, of which I will give 
 him notice by letter. I will write the note now, and if 
 you can spare time to go there to-day, all the better, for 
 I shall be glad to get the business over; then I will come 
 again to-morrow morning, and we will arrange the details 
 of the plan. I will look in the shipping list, and see 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 269 
 
 what vessels are sailing for Amsterdam. When we have 
 fixed on one, it will be best for you to take our passages 
 under any names you like, so that they are not our own. 
 The detectives will take their passages separately, and so 
 will Gibbons and whoever else goes with us." 
 
 " I will go at once, Mark." 
 
 " Don't go straight there, Dick; if these fellows are 
 dogging my footsteps everywhere, and saw me coming 
 here, they might take it into their heads to follow you." 
 
 " Oh, they can never be doing all that sort of thing; 
 that's too much to believe. However, to please you, I will 
 go into my club for a quarter of an hour. Shall I come 
 round to your rooms this evening, or will you come here ? " 
 
 " I think I will put off our meeting altogether until 
 to-morrow morning. I have an engagement this evening 
 that I cannot very well get out of." 
 
 " All right, Mark, just as you please. What time will 
 you come round in the morning? " 
 
 " About the time you have finished breakfast. I will 
 go now, and have a look at the shipping list." 
 
 They parted at the door, and Mark went to the coffee- 
 house where shipping matters were specially attended to, 
 and where master mariners might often be met, conversing 
 together, or with shipowners or merchants. On going 
 through the list, he found that the fast-sailing brig, 
 Essex, of 204 tons, and mounting eight guns, would sail 
 for Amsterdam in three days' time, and would take in 
 goods for that place, and, should sufficient freight be 
 obtained, for any other Dutch port. It was also 
 announced that she had good accommodation for passen- 
 gers. Information as to cargo could be obtained from 
 her owners, on Tower Hill, or from the captain on board, 
 between the hours of ten and twelve. Then, in small 
 type, it was stated that the Essex was at present lying in 
 the outside tier nearly opposite Anderson's wharf. 
 
 Mark made a note of all these particulars in his pocket- 
 book, and then went to Ingleston's public-house. 
 
 " Morning, Mr. Thorndyke," the man said; " haven't 
 seen yer for the last month or so." 
 
 " No; I have been out of town. Do you expect Gibbons 
 in here this morning? " 
 
270 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " It is about his time, sir, when he has nothing in 
 particular to see about. Like a turn with the mauleys 
 this morning? " 
 
 " Not this morning, Ingieston. I have got some en- 
 gagements for the next day or two where I could not 
 very well show myself with a black eye or a swelled nose; 
 you have given me a good many of both/' 
 
 " Well, Mr. Thorndyke, when one stands up against a 
 man who is as strong as one's self, and a mighty quick 
 and hard hitter, you have got to hit sharp and quick 
 too. You know my opinion, that there aint half a dozen 
 men in the country could lick you if you had a proper 
 training." 
 
 " I suppose you couldn't get away for a week, or maybe 
 two? " he said. 
 
 " Lor' bless you, no, sir. Who would there be to keep 
 order here at night? When I first came here I had not 
 given up the ring, and I fought once or twice afterwards. 
 But, Lor' bless you, I soon found that I had got either 
 to give up the pub or the ring, and as I was doing a 
 tidy business here, I thought it best to retire; since then 
 business has grown. You see, boxing is more fashionable 
 than it used to be, and there are very few nights when 
 one don't have a dozen Corinthians in here — sometimes 
 there are twice as many — either to see some of the new 
 hands put on the mauleys, and judge for themselves how 
 they are going to turn out, or maybe to arrange for a 
 bout between some novice they fancy and one of the west 
 countrymen. No, sir, I could not do it anyhow; I should 
 not like to be away even for one night, though I know 
 Gibbons would look after things for me; as fur being 
 away for a week, I could not do it for any money. No, 
 sir, my fight with Jackson last year was the last time I 
 shall ever go into the ring. I was a fool to go in for 
 that, but I got taunted into it. I never thought that 
 I should lick him, though, as you know, sir, I have licked 
 a good many good men in my time, but Jackson is an 
 out-and-out man, and he has got a lot more science than 
 I ever had; my only chance was that I could knock him 
 out of time or wear him down; but he was too quick on 
 his pins for me to do the former. Ah, Gibbons, here is 
 
COLONEL THOENLYKE'S SECRET. 271 
 
 Mr. Thorndyke. He wants to see you; you had best go 
 into my room behind the bar." 
 
 "Want to get hold of a frosh hand, Mr. Thorndyke?" 
 Gibbons asked when they had sat down by the fire. 
 
 " No, Gibbons, it is another business altogether. Have 
 you got anything particular to keep you in town for the 
 next fortnight? It may not be over a week, but it may 
 be over a fortnight." 
 
 " No, sir," the man said, after taking three or four 
 draws at his long pipe. " No, sir; they won't want the 
 ropes and stakes for another three weeks, so I am your 
 man if you want me. What is it for, sir? " 
 
 " Well, it is rather a curious affair, Gibbons. I have 
 to take a very valuable bracelet over to Amsterdam, to 
 sell there, and I have very strong reasons for believing 
 that if some fellows get an inkling of it they will try to 
 put me out of the way, and get hold of the diamonds. I 
 want a couple of good men to go with me." 
 
 " Well, sir, I should say you and me could lick 
 a dozen ordinary chaps, without thinking anything of 
 it." 
 
 " I dare say we could, Gibbons, in a stand-up fight 
 without weapons, but I fancy these fellows will not try 
 that. They are foreigners, and the first thing they would 
 try would be to put a dagger between my shoulders as 
 I walked up and down on deck at night, or, more likely 
 still, creep into my cabin and stab me while I was asleep. 
 If the voyage were only to last one night I might sit 
 up, pistol in hand, but if the wind is foul we might be a 
 week. We are a pretty strong party. Mr. Chetwynd — 
 you know him — is going with me; there will also be two 
 runners from Bow Street, and I want you to take another 
 good man with you. Of course, on board we shall 
 separate. The Bow Street men will watch the passengers, 
 and you and your mate will smoke your pipes and keep 
 yourselves ready to join in if you see there is going to be a 
 row. But I rather think that the passage will be a quiet 
 one. At Amsterdam, until I have got rid of the diamonds 
 I certainly should not care about going out into the street 
 after nightfall without having you close behind me." 
 
 " All right, sir. I should say Tom Tring would be as 
 
272 COLONEL THORNLYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 good a man as one could get at the job. What is the 
 money to be, Mr. Thorndyke? " 
 
 " Well, what do you think yourself, Gibbons? " 
 
 " I take it you pay all expenses, sir? " 
 
 " Yes, everything." 
 
 " Would five-and- twenty guineas a head be too much? " 
 
 " No; I will do better than that. I will give you five- 
 and-twenty guineas each when we get to Amsterdam, and 
 I will give you another twenty-five each if I come back 
 here safe and sound." 
 
 " Well, I call that handsome. One could not want 
 more, and you can rely on it that Tring will jump at the 
 offer. He has not been able to get a fight on lately, and 
 he is rather in low water/' 
 
 " Well, you will both get up as quiet traders. I don't 
 know what other passengers there may be, but I don't 
 want them to know that you belong to the fancy." 
 
 " I twig, sir. We will get up quiet like." 
 
 " Then I want you to-morrow morning, Gibbons, to 
 go down to Holmes & Moore, No. 67 Tower Street, and 
 take two first-class tickets to Amsterdam on board the 
 Essex, which sails on Saturday. I don't know what the 
 passage-money will be, but this is sure to be enough; and 
 we can settle accounts afterwards. You will find out 
 what time of day she will start." 
 
 " All right, governor. I suppose you will be here again 
 before that?" 
 
 " No, I don't suppose I shall, unless there is some 
 change in the arrangements. If for any reasons Tring 
 cannot go with you, you will get somebody else instead. 
 You are sure that you quite understand your instructions ? 
 Here is the name and address of the people in Tower 
 Street." 
 
 " All right, sir. You may make sure that when you 
 go down to the ship you will see the two of us on board." 
 
 It needed but a few minutes at Bow Street to inform 
 the chief of the arrangements that had been made. 
 
 " I have told off Chester and Malcolm; one of them 
 shall go down and take their tickets. Of course, they will 
 take their passages in the fore cabin, as the danger, if 
 there is danger, may come from there, and you will have 
 
COLONEL TRORND TKE'S SECRET. 273 
 
 your other two men with you aft. I fancy myself that 
 there is hardly any chance of, your being in any way 
 troubled while on board. It will be considered that there 
 will be a vastly greater chance of carrying out any plan 
 they may have formed at Am&terdam than there would 
 be on board a ship; you see, if> there were any struggle 
 whatever on board there would be no escape for them. 
 
 " For myself, of course I cannot give any opinion worth 
 having in a matter so different from anything we have to 
 do with here, and I should have unhesitatingly scoffed at 
 the idea of anyone watching the movements of people 
 for a long number of years in order to obtain the posses- 
 sion of jewels, however valuable. However, your uncle 
 was well acquainted with the habits of Hindoos, and was 
 not a man to be lightly alarmed; you yourself, after your 
 year with us, should not be deceived in such a matter as 
 being yourself followed; under these circumstances you 
 are quite right to take every precaution, and as you pay 
 well for the services of our two men, even if I had no 
 belief whatever in the existence of danger to you, I should 
 not feel justified in refusing to let you have them." 
 
 Having arranged these mat ,ers, Mark spent the rest of 
 his time that day and the next at Islington. 
 
 " I am going across to Amsterdam on Saturday with a 
 diamond bracelet to sell there." 
 
 Millicent looked at him in reproachful surprise. 
 
 " Why, surely, Mark, there can be no hurry about that. 
 I think you might have stayed a little longer before 
 running away." 
 
 " I should do so, you may be quite sure, Millicent, if 
 I consulted my own inclinations, but I am bearing out 
 your father's wishes. This bracelet is the most valuable 
 of all the things he had, and I believe that it has some 
 sort of history attached to it. He told my father that he 
 had sent all the gems home principally to get these 
 diamonds out of his possession; he said that as soon as 
 my father got' hold of the things, he was to take the 
 diamonds straight over to Amsterdam and sell them there, 
 for he considered that they! were much too valuable to be 
 kept in the house, and that it was possible that some of 
 the Hindoos might endeavor to get possession of them. 
 
274 COLONEL THORNDYKWS SECRET. 
 
 At the time he spoke he believed that my father would, 
 at his death, go to the bank and get the jewels, as of 
 course he would have done if he had known where to find 
 them. My father promised him that they should be taken 
 to Amsterdam at once; and although so many years have 
 passed since his death, I think I am bound to carry out 
 that promise." 
 
 " I have never been able to understand, Mark, how it 
 was that my father, when he gave all these instructions 
 about me and these jewels and so on, did not at the same 
 time tell uncle where to find them." 
 
 " It was a fancy of his; he was in very bad health, and 
 he thought so much over these diamonds that it had be- 
 come almost a sort of mania with him that not only was 
 there danger in their possession, but that he was watched 
 night and day wherever he went. He thought, even, if he 
 whispered where the hiding-place was to be discovered it 
 might be heard; therefore he deferred telling it until too 
 late. Of course all this was but a fancy on his part, 
 although it is probable enough that the possession of the 
 diamonds was a source of danger in India, and might have 
 been a source of danger here had any thieves known that 
 such valuable gems were kept in a private house or carried 
 about. At any rate, I shall be glad to be free of the 
 responsibility; and although, naturally, I don't like leaving 
 you at the present time, I think it best to carry out your 
 father's instructions" at once, and to get them off my mind 
 altogether. Dick Chetwynd is going with me, so it will 
 be a pleasant little^ trip." 
 
 " Well, I am glad he is going with you, Mark; for 
 although I know well enough that they could never be 
 watching for those diamonds to turn up all these years, 
 I feel sure I should fidget and worry if you were alone. 
 You are not going to take the others with you? " 
 
 " No, -only this particular bracelet. None of the others 
 are exceptionally valuable, so far as I know. At any rate, 
 your father did not specially allude to them. I have no 
 doubt that there are some really valuable jewels among 
 them, for my uncle prided himself on being a judge of 
 precious stones, and as he invested a large amount of 
 money in them, they are, no doubt, worth a great deal. 
 
COLONEL THORND TKE'S SECRET. 275 
 
 Still, I don't suppose there will be any difficulty in selling 
 them here, and, at any rate, I don't want to be delayed at 
 Amsterdam by having to sell perhaps fifty or a hundred 
 pieces of jewelry; any time will do for that. I fancy 
 that I ought to be able to dispose of the bracelet in three 
 or four days at the outside. I have got from Bow Street 
 a list of all the principal diamond merchants in Amster- 
 dam. That is a matter of great interest to the force, as 
 almost all precious stones stolen in this country are sent 
 across there, and if there is any special jewel robbery we 
 send over a list of all the articles taken to the merchants 
 there. As a rule, that woruld not prevent their dealing in 
 them, but there are some who will not touch things that 
 have been dishonestly come by, and we occasionally get 
 hints that enable us to lay hands upon thieves over there." 
 
 " I hate to hear you say ' the force/ Mark, just as if 
 you were still a detective; it is bad enough that you 
 should have belonged to it, even for the purpose you did; 
 but you have done with it now." 
 
 " Yes; but, you see, it is rather difficult to get out of 
 the habit when one has been for over a year constantly 
 at work at a thing. This will be my last absence on 
 business, Millicent; henceforward I shall be able to be 
 always with you." 
 
 " Well, now, that I know what you have been doing 
 all this time, Mark, I must admit that you have been 
 very good to have been with! us as much as you have. 
 I often used to wonder how you passed your time. Of 
 course I knew that you were, trying to find that man 
 out, but it did not seem to me that you could be always 
 at that, and I never dreamt that you had become a 
 regular detective. I am very glad I did not know it till 
 a short time before you gave it up. In the first place, 
 I should have been horrified, and, in the second place, 
 I should have been constantly uneasy about you. Plow- 
 ever, as this is to be the last time, I will let you go with- 
 out grumbling." 
 
 " By the way, Millicent, what do you wish me to say 
 about our engagement? I don't see that there is the 
 slightest occasion for us to keep up the farce of your 
 being Miss Conyers any longer. You cannot be married 
 
276 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 under a false name, you know, and now that you have 
 escaped what your father was so afraid of, and are going 
 to he married for love and not for money, I don't see 
 why there should be any more mystery about it." 
 
 " But how would you account for my having been called 
 Conyers all this time? " 
 
 " I should simply tell the truth; that your father, 
 having a great fear that you might be married for 
 money, left the estate to my father, to be held by him 
 until you came of age, and that it was at his particular 
 request that you were brought up simply as his ward, 
 and dropped the family name and passed by your two 
 Christian names. I should say that we have all been 
 aware for a long time of the facts of the case, and I 
 should also say that your father had left a very large 
 fortune in addition to the estate between us, and had 
 expressed a hope that we should, when the time came, 
 marry each other." 
 
 " Then people will think that we have only married to 
 keep the fortune together, Mark." 
 
 " Well, my dear, I don't suppose there are a great many 
 people who will be interested in the matter, and those 
 who get to know you will see at once that as far as I am 
 concerned, there was no great difficulty in falling in 
 with your father's ideas, while, on the other hand, they 
 may consider that you made a noble sacrifice of yourself 
 in agreeing to the plan." 
 
 " Nonsense, sir. I am not going to flatter you, as no 
 doubt you expect; but, at any rate, I am perfectly content 
 with my share of the bargain." 
 
 " Well, there is one thing, Millicent; all who knew us 
 down at Eeigate will say that it is a very sensible ar- 
 rangement, and will be glad to know that I shall retain 
 the estate they have hitherto considered to be mine. 
 Well, then, you agree to my mentioning to my intimate 
 friends that you are my cousin, and that we are 
 engaged ? " 
 
 " Yes, I suppose it is the best thing, Mark, and, as 
 you say, I must marry under my proper name, and it is 
 just as well to get the talk over down at Eeigate now, 
 as for it all to come as a wonder when we are married." 
 
COLONEL THORNBYKE'8 SECRET. 277 
 
 " When is that going to be, Millicent? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know; of course it will be a long time 
 before we even think of that." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, I am thinking of it now, and I 
 can see no reason whatever why it should be delayed. 
 We know each other well enough, I should think, and 
 there is no probability of our changing our minds on 
 discovering all sorts of faults, that we never dreamt, in 
 each other. I may be away for a fortnight, and I would 
 suggest that you had better make your preparations at 
 once, so that we can be married a fortnight after I come 
 back." 
 
 "You say that there is no fear of our discovering 
 faults in each other. I can assure you that I have just 
 discovered a very serious fault, namely, that you are 
 altogether too masterful, too bent upon having your own 
 way. I know you always were so when you were a boy, 
 but I hoped you had grown out of it; now I see that I 
 was altogether mistaken. Seriously, Mark, your pro- 
 posal is absurd." 
 
 "Where does the absurdity come in, Millicent?" 
 
 " Well, everywhere," she said gravely. 
 
 " Which in the present case means nowhere," he said. 
 " Do you mean to tell me, Millicent, that in this town 
 there are not a hundred dressmakers, each of whom could 
 turn you out a wedding-dress and as many other garments 
 as you can possibly require in the course of a month, or 
 even if that effort were too stupendous, that you could 
 not divide the work among a dozen of them? " 
 
 " Well, I don't say that could not be done," Millicent 
 admitted reluctantly. 
 
 "Well, what other objection is there?" 
 
 " Well, you see, one does not like to be bustled in such 
 a matter as this, Mark. One likes to think it all over 
 and to realize it to one's self." 
 
 " Well, dear, you will have a fortnight while T am 
 away to think and to realize as much as you like. I can 
 see no advantage myself in waiting a single day longer 
 than there is a necessity for; T have been for the last 
 year coming here merely as a visitor, and I want to take 
 possession of you and have you all to myself. I suppose 
 
278 COLONEL THORND YKE'S SECRET. 
 
 Mrs. Cunningham will be coming in presently, and I will 
 put the matter to her. If she says you cannot be ready 
 in a month I must give you another week, but I don't 
 think that she will say so. By the way, how about her? " 
 
 " I was thinking of that last night, Mark. It would be 
 very lonely for her to live by herself now, and you see she 
 has always been as a mother to me." 
 
 " Quite so, dear; and I am sure that I should have no 
 objection to her coming back to Crowswood, and living 
 there as a friend, and helping you in the housekeeping." 
 
 " Thank you very much, Mark; I should like that in 
 every way. You see, I know nothing whatever about 
 housekeeping; and besides, when you are out, it would be 
 a great thing to have her with me, for it would be very 
 lonely by myself in that big house." 
 
 " Well, we will have her there, by all means, dear, if 
 she likes to come; you had better talk it over with her. 
 Ah! here she is. We were just talking over the time it 
 will take Millicent to get ready," he said, " and I shall be 
 glad of your opinion. I have been telling her that I am 
 going away for a fortnight, and have proposed that the 
 marriage should come off a fortnight later. I cannot see 
 any use in delay, and she does not either; at least, I 
 suppose not, for the only objection she has advanced is 
 that there will be but a short time in which to get her 
 things ready. That strikes me as being all nonsense. I 
 could get things ready for ten weddings in that time. 
 What do you think?" 
 
 "I see no reason for delay," Mrs. Cunningham said; 
 " and assuredly a month ought to be sufficient to get 
 everything made." 
 
 " Thank vou, Mrs. Cunningham; then we can consider 
 that settled," Millicent! " 
 
 " I call this tyranny, Mrs. Cunningham," Millicent pro- 
 tested. " He says he proposes that we shall be married in 
 a month; it is not a proposal at all, it is an order. If he 
 had wanted me in such a hurry he might have said so a 
 year ago, and now that he has made up his mind at last, 
 he wants everything done in a hurry." 
 
 " It is the nature of men, my dear; they are all alike 
 in that respect. I think you had better make up your 
 
COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 279 
 
 mind to it, especially as I have no doubt in this case the 
 order is not a very unpleasant one." 
 
 " You are too bad, Mrs. Cunningham/' Millicent said. 
 " I made sure that I should find you on my side, and it 
 seems you have gone over altogether to the enemy." 
 
 " Where are you going to ? " asked Mrs. Cunningham 
 of Mark. 
 
 " I am going across to Amsterdam to sell that bracelet. 
 My uncle expressed a particular wish to my father that he 
 should do so immediately it came into his possession. 
 Dick Chetwynd is going over with me, and if the weather 
 is fair it will be a pleasant trip." 
 
 " Where are you thinking of going after the mar- 
 riage ? " 
 
 " We have not talked it over yet. My own idea is that, 
 as neither of us has been abroad, we might as well take 
 this opportunity for seeing something of the Continent. 
 Of course we cannot go to France, things are in too dis- 
 turbed a state there; but we might go to Brussels, and 
 then into Germany, and perhaps as far as Vienna, and 
 then down into Italy; but of course, if Millicent prefers 
 it, we will simply take a tour through England and 
 Scotland." 
 
 " Oh, I am glad that I am to have some voice in the 
 matter," Millicent said. " However, I should like the 
 tour you propose very much, Mark. I have often 
 thought that I should like to see Italy above all places." 
 
 " Well, then, we will consider that settled. And now, 
 what are you going to do for to-day ? " 
 
CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 The Essex was to sail at eleven o'clock. Half an hour 
 before that time Mark's hackney coach drew up at the 
 wharf. Ten minutes later Dick Chetwynd, who had, 
 like Mark, driven by a circuitous route, and had made 
 several stoppages, joined him, and as they shook hands 
 slipped a parcel into his hand, and this Mark at once 
 pocketed, and buttoned his coat up tightly; then hailing 
 a boat, they went on board together; they had sent their 
 luggage on the previous evening. On getting on board 
 Mark saw the two prizefighters walking up and down the 
 deck aft. They were quietly dressed, and save for their 
 size would have attracted no attention, and would have 
 been taken for two countrymen on their way to Holland 
 on business. 
 
 The two detectives were seated forward, their appear- 
 ance being that of two quiet business men, commercial 
 travelers or small traders. The two friends first went 
 below, and saw to the cabin which they were to share, and 
 found their luggage was all there. Then they returned 
 on deck. Four or five other passengers were standing 
 watching the last bales of goods coming on board. The 
 tide was just on the turn, and a quarter of an hour later 
 the warps were thrown off, and some of the sails hoisted, 
 and the Essex began to move through the water. 
 
 "Look there, Dick!" Mark exclaimed. "Do you see 
 that boat lying on its oars in the middle of the stream? 
 That man sitting in the stern is a foreigner, either from 
 Southern Europe or irom India." 
 
 " He is certainly a dark man, Mark. Still, that may be 
 only a coincidence." 
 
 " It is rather a curious one," Mark said. " We are too 
 far off to see his features, but he is apparently watching 
 us off. There, the oars are dipping into the water, now 
 he sees that we are fairly under way." 
 
 380 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 281 
 
 " Well, Mark, I shall begin to think that you are right. 
 I am bound to say that hitherto I thought that it was 
 ridiculous to suppose that you could have been watched 
 as you thought, and that you had got these diamonds on 
 3 r our brain till you had really become fanciful. However, 
 it certainly looks as if you were right; but even if you 
 were, how on earth could they have found out that we 
 were going by this ship? " 
 
 " That is more than I can tell; if they have been 
 watching me they must have known that I was intimate 
 with you; they have seen me come out of Cotter's Bank, 
 md afterwards enter your lodgings; they would feel sure 
 that I had heard that there would be danger connected 
 vith the diamonds, and might suppose that I should get 
 f.ome friend to take them from the bank, and may have 
 followed your movements as well as mine. In that case 
 they would have found out that you also went to Cotter's 
 Bank; may have followed you to Tower Street, and found 
 out that you had taken a passage for two to Amsterdam. 
 They may again have seen you go to the bank this 
 morning and have guessed that you had the diamonds 
 about you, and then seeing us together on the wharf 
 would feel pretty certain that it was so. One of them 
 may have hired that boat and watched the Essex to see 
 that neither of us went on shore again." 
 
 " Now they see that we are off they will know that 
 their game is up," Chetwynd said. 
 
 " I am not so sure of that, Dick; there are craft going 
 every day to Antwerp and Flushing, and for anything we 
 know some of them may be on board a craft already 
 dropping down like ourselves by this tide. But even if 
 we had twelve hours' start, by landing, say at Flushing, 
 they would have time to cross by land to Amsterdam and 
 get there before us." 
 
 "Yes, I suppose they would; anyhow, it is pretty cer- 
 tain that we shall not be troubled on the voyage." 
 
 " Yes, I never thought there was much danger of that, 
 because even if they were on board they would see that 
 you and I, being always together, could not be got rid of 
 without an alarm being given." 
 
 Not until they were passing Greenwich did either of 
 
282 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SEcl ET - 
 
 the detectives come near Mark, then as hi a ^ -V 1C ^ 
 were standing by the bulwarks, looking at the ^ospitaij 
 Chester strolled across the deck and, pointing to . e 
 building as if asking him some question aboir. S* 
 said: 
 
 " There is a colored man forward, dressed as a 
 sailor." 
 
 " Is that so? " Mark said. " I see no one aft here who 
 looks suspicious, and I don't think they will try anything 
 till we get to Amsterdam. There was a colored man in 
 a boat watching us as we set sail." 
 
 " I saw him, sir. Can he get to Amsterdam before 
 us?" 
 
 " Yes, I have no doubt he can; if he lands at Flushing 
 or Antwerp, and takes a post-chaise or a diligence, I 
 should say he could get there twenty-four hours before 
 us. Certainly he could do so if he landed at The Hague, 
 as we have to go a long way round to get into the Zuyder 
 Zee. That is where the real danger will be; still you had 
 better keep a sharp lookout on the man forward." 
 
 No more was said. Mark was not long in getting into 
 conversation with the other passengers aft, and later on 
 strolled forward with Dick, asking the sailors some 
 questions as to what sort of passage they were likely to 
 have, and how the wind suited. The men agreed that 
 unless the wind shifted they would not be likely to make 
 a quick passage. 
 
 " The wind is northeasterly," one of them said. " We 
 can only just lay our course now, and it will be dead 
 against us in some of the reaches. Still, I think we shall 
 manage to make down to sea with only a tack or two, 
 but when we are once fairly out of the river it will be a 
 long leg and a short one, and going up round the Texel 
 it will be dead against us. Except that it would be a 
 bit worse if it had a little more east in it, it is about as 
 foul a wind as we could have, and I don't see any sign of 
 a change, worse luck." 
 
 Presently, moving about among them, he got next to 
 Gibbons. 
 
 " I don't think we shall have any trouble on board," he 
 said; " if there is any, it will be after we have landed. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 283 
 
 But you can keep an eye on that foreign sailor standing 
 alone there up in the bows." 
 
 " All right, sir; if you like, I can manage to get into 
 a quarrel with him, and can warrant that he won't get 
 out of his berth before it is time to go ashore." 
 
 " No, I would leave him alone, Gibbons; as long as he 
 is forward he can do no harm; but if you see him working 
 his way aft, after it gets dark, it will do him no harm if 
 you manage to stumble against him and give him a clout 
 on the head." 
 
 " All right, sir; if I hit him once he won't want 
 another. The fellow seems quiet enough, and as far as 
 strength goes he don't look stronger than a girl." 
 
 After chatting for some time longer Mark and Dick 
 Chetwynd went aft again. The Essex did not put into 
 any intermediate port, and it was only on the sixth day 
 after sailing that she approached Amsterdam. The voy- 
 age had passed off without any incident except that at 
 nine o'clock one evening there had been a slight noise on 
 deck and the sound of a fall. The friends went up at 
 once. Several of the sailors had run aft, and Gibbons 
 was explaining matters to them. 
 
 " I was walking up and down the deck," he said, " when 
 I saw this chap staring down through the skylight, and 
 I said to him, ' I don't call it good manners to be prying- 
 down into your betters' cabin.' He did not answer or 
 move, so I gave him a push, when he turned upon me like 
 a wild cat, and drew his knife from his girdle. There it 
 is, on the other side of the deck. As I did not want 
 daylight put into me, I just knocked him down." 
 
 " Served him right," one of the sailors said. " He had 
 no right to come aft at all, and if he drew his knife on 
 you you were quite right in laying him out. But you 
 must have hit him mighty hard, for you have knocked 
 the life pretty near out of him. Well, we may as well 
 carry him forward and throw a bucket of water over him. 
 That is the worst of these foreign chaps; they are always- 
 so ready with their knives. However, I don't think 
 he will be likely to try his hand on an Englishman 
 again." 
 
 Mark and his friend went below again. In the morn- 
 
284 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 ing Mark asked one of the sailors if the foreigner was 
 much hurt. 
 
 " Well, he is a good bit hurt, sir. That big chap 
 looks as strong as a bullock, and his blow has flattened 
 the foreign chap's nose. He cannot see out of his eyes 
 this morning, and is keeping his bunk. They cannot 
 stand a blow, those foreign chaps; but I don't suppose 
 that any of us would have stood such a blow as that, 
 without feeling it pretty heavy. The man who hit him 
 is quite sorry this morning that he hit him quite so hot, 
 but, as he says, when a fellow draws a knife on you, 
 you have not got much time for thinking it over, and 
 you have got to hit quick and hard. I told him he 
 needn't be sorry about it. I consider when a fellow 
 draws a knife that hanging aint too bad for him, whether 
 he gets it into a 2nan or not." There was a growl of 
 assent from two or three sailors standing round, for in 
 those days the use of the knife was almost unknown in 
 England, and was abhorrent to Englishmen, both as 
 being cowardly and unfair, and as being a purely foreign 
 crime. 
 
 " It will be dark before we get alongside," Mark said 
 to the two detectives. " Do you two walk first; we will 
 keep just behind you, and the others shall follow as 
 close as they can keep to us. If anyone is looking out 
 for us they will see that we are a strong party, and that 
 it would be no good to attack us, for even if they were 
 to stab me it would not be possible to search me for the 
 diamonds Avhen I am with a party like this." 
 
 It was indeed quite dark when the brig brought up 
 outside a tier of vessels lying by the wharf. A few oil 
 lamps burning by the quay showed that there were a 
 good many people still sauntering about. The party 
 waited until the rest of the passengers had landed. 
 They learned from one of those who knew the place that 
 the hotel to which they were going was but three or 
 four hundred yards away, and obtained directions how 
 to find it. 
 
 " Now we will go," Mark said. " Gibbons, you had 
 better keep a sharp lookout on your own account. That 
 fellow you knocked down may try to put a knife into you.''' 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. " 285- 
 
 " I will keep a sharp lookout, sir, never you fear." 
 
 "I think, Tring, you had better watch Gibbons; he 
 is more in danger than I am. Have you seen the man 
 go on shore? " 
 
 " Yes, he was the very first to cross onto the next 
 vessel," Tring said. 
 
 The loungers on the quay had gathered together to 
 watch the passengers as they left the ship, and by the 
 dim light from one of the oil lamps it could be seen 
 that the majority of them were of the roughest class. 
 As they were passing through them a man with a cry 
 of rage sprang at Gibbons with an uplifted knife. 
 Tring's fist struck him under the ear as he was in the 
 act of striking, and he fell like a log. There was a cry 
 of "Down with them!" and a rush of a score of men,, 
 most of whom were armed with heavy bludgeons. 
 
 The party was at once broken up, heavy blows were 
 exchanged, the two pugilists rolling their assailants over 
 like ninepins, but receiving several heavy blows from 
 their assailants' clubs. A rush of five or six men 
 separated Mark from the others. Those in front of him 
 he struck down, but a moment later received a tremen- 
 dous blow on the back of the head which struck him to 
 the ground unconscious. His companions were all too 
 busy defending themselves against their assailants to 
 notice what had been done, and as the attack had taken 
 place in the center of the roadway behind the quay, there 
 was no lamp, and the fight was taking place in almost 
 total darkness. 
 
 By this time many people had run up at the sound 
 of the fray. A minute later there was a cry that the 
 watch were coming, and four or five men with lanterns 
 emerged from one of the streets leading down to the 
 quays, and hurried towards the spot. The fight at once 
 ceased, the men who had attacked mingled with the 
 crowd, and when the watch came up they found the five 
 Englishmen clustered together and ten or twelve men 
 lying on the ground. 
 
 The instant that the fight had ceased Dick Chetwynd 
 asked, " Where is Mr. Thorndyke?" 
 
 No answer was given. The other four men simul- 
 
286 COLONEL THORNDYKE' S SECRET. 
 
 taneously uttered exclamations of alarm. The crowd 
 was thinning fast as the watch came up. 
 
 " What is all this ahout ? " one of them asked in Dutch. 
 
 "Do any of you speak English?" Dick asked. 
 
 " I do," one of them said. 
 
 " We landed five minutes ago from that craft," com 
 tinned Dick, " and as we came across we were attacked 
 by a band of ruffians. An Englishman, one of our party, 
 is missing." 
 
 "Whose bodies are these?" the watchman asked, rais- 
 ing his lantern and pointing to them. 
 
 " Perhaps Mr. Thorndyke is among them," Dick 
 Chetwynd said. 
 
 The fallen figures were examined by the light of the 
 lanterns. Mark was not among them. The watchmen 
 uttered an exclamation of astonishment as they looked at 
 the men's faces. 
 
 " What did you strike them with? " the one who 
 spoke first asked. 
 
 " Struck them with our fists, of course," Gibbons 
 Teplied. They will do well enough; you need not bother 
 about them, they will come round again presently. The 
 question is, Where is Mr. Thorndyke? " 
 
 The whole of the lookers-on had dispersed, each fear- 
 ing that he might be charged with taking part in the 
 outrage. 
 
 " This is a very serious matter," Chetwynd said. " We 
 have every reason to believe that the attack was premedi- 
 tated, for the gentleman who is missing was known to 
 have some valuables on him; all these fellows ought to 
 be taken and locked up and made to give an account of 
 themselves. We are going to the Hotel d'Hollande, 
 where you can find us at any time. I dare say some of 
 these scoundrels are known to you, and that may give 
 you a clew as to where Mr. Thorndyke is. 
 
 "I have but little hope that he will be found alive; 
 no doubt he has been stabbed and his body carried off 
 so that they can search his clothes at their leisure. We 
 came in a strong party to prevent the risk of an attack 
 upon Mr. Thorndyke. Here is my card. It is of no use 
 our attempting to search by ourselves, but if you will get 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'B SECRET. 28* 
 
 these fellows taken to the watch-house, and will call at 
 the hotel, we will join your party and help you to search 
 the places you think he has most likely been taken to." 
 
 " I think, sir, you had better come with me to the 
 watch-house, and see the Lieutenant, and tell him what 
 has happened." 
 
 (i I will just take my friends to the hotel, and shall be 
 back from there before you have got men to take these 
 fellows away. If you go to one of those ships and borrow 
 a bucket, empty it over each of them; you will find that 
 will bring them to! " 
 
 As soon as they arrived at the hotel Dick ordered a 
 private sitting room and five bedrooms. 
 
 " We have made a terrible mess of this, lads," he said 
 gloomily. " I don't say that it is any of our faults, but 
 it is a horrible affair. I have not the least doubt that 
 Mr. Thorndyke has been killed, and it is no satisfaction 
 to us that we have pretty nearly done for a dozen of 
 those scoundrels." 
 
 " I would not have had it happen for a hundred 
 pounds, nor a thousand, sir. If there had been daylight 
 we could have licked a score of them in spite of their 
 bludgeons, but they came with such a rush at us that we 
 got separated before we knew where we were. I don't 
 think that it was our fault. I feel as much ashamed as if 
 I had thrown up the sponge in the ring at the end of the 
 first round. To think that we came over here, four of 
 us, and yourself, sir, on purpose to take care of Mr. 
 Thorndyke, all well save a few knocks with those sticks, 
 and Mr. Thorndyke killed and carried off before we have 
 been on shore five minutes. A better young fellow I 
 never put on the gloves with; " and Gibbons passed the 
 back of his hand across his eyes. 
 
 " Well, I must be off now," Chetwynd said. " I feel 
 heartbroken over it. I have known him since we were 
 boys together; and what makes it worse is that only 
 three days ago he became engaged to be married. How 
 we are going to take the news back God only knows! " 
 
 As he hurried down the street towards the wharf he 
 saw a number of lanterns coming towards him, and ten 
 or twelve watchmen came along escorting the prisoners, 
 
288 - COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 many of whose faces were covered with blood; then came 
 four other watchmen carried a body on a stretcher. 
 
 " One of them is dead," the watchman who had before 
 spoken said to Dick. " A foreign seaman, a Lascar I 
 should say, from his color; we found an open knife by 
 his side." 
 
 " That is the man who began the fray," Chetwynd said. 
 41 He was on the point of stabbing one of my companions 
 when another hit him under the ear." 
 
 "What!" the watchman said. "He must have been 
 hit like the kick of a horse. All these prisoners seem to 
 have been struck but once; two of them cannot speak. 
 I think their jaws are broken; four of them have broken 
 noses, and another has had all his front teeth knocked 
 out, while the others are nearly as bad." 
 
 " I see you have brought with you some of their bludg- 
 eons," Dick said, pointing to one of the watchmen 
 carrying a great bundle of sticks over his shoulder. 
 
 " Yes, sir, twenty-three of them; it certainly seems to 
 show that it was a planned thing. Most of these fellows' 
 faces are so bruised that I cannot say who they are at 
 present, but two or three are known as the worst ruffians 
 in the city, and I have no doubt we shall find that they 
 all belong to the same gang." 
 
 By this time they had arrived at the watch-house, a 
 building of considerable size; the prisoners were first 
 lodged in a strong room with barred windows and very 
 heavy doors, and then the watchman went with Chetwynd 
 to the Lieutenant's room. The officer had just returned, 
 having hurried down with a re-enforcement to the wharf 
 as soon as he had heard of the fray, and tried to obtain 
 some information from the people who had gathered 
 round, attracted by the lanterns of the watch. He had 
 already learned from the watchmen all they knew about 
 the affair. As he spoke English well, he at once ad- 
 dressed Dick: 
 
 " This is a serious affair, sir." 
 
 " A very serious affair, for, indeed, I am afraid that 
 my dearest friend has been murdered." 
 
 " Will you kindly give me the particulars ? " the officer 
 said, sitting down to the table with a pen in his hand. 
 
COLONEL THORNBTKE'S SECRET. 289 
 
 Dick Chetwynd told him the story of how Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke, having some very valuable jewels that he wished 
 to dispose of, and believing that he would be attacked 
 by a band of robbers, had asked him to accompany him, 
 and had brought four detective officers "and pugilists to 
 protect him against any sudden attack. 
 
 " Ah, that accounts for the terrible blows that these 
 fellows received," the officer said. " And your friend, 
 was he a strong man? " 
 
 " He was a man exceptionally strong, and a match for 
 either of the pugilists that he brought over. I have no 
 doubt that he was stabbed, though of course he might 
 have been brought down by a blow from one of the 
 bludgeons. He must have been completely insensible 
 when carried off. 
 
 " The watchman here tells me that three or four of 
 these ruffians are known, and perhaps if you will give 
 orders for the blood to be washed off the others' faces 
 some more may be recognized and prove an aid in 
 enabling you to form an idea where Mr. Thorndyke has 
 been carried. I trust that you will send out a party to 
 search for him. I and the four men with me will gladly 
 join them, and may be of use if any resistance is offered." 
 
 The Lieutenant at once gave orders to the watchman 
 to go down and see that the prisoners all washed their 
 faces. As soon as he returned with the report that this 
 was done the officer went down with Dick Chetwynd to 
 examine them. Three or four of the men with lanterns 
 also went in. Eight out of eleven men were recognized; 
 the other three, whose features were so swollen that they 
 could not see out of their eyes, could not be made out, but 
 their companions, on being questioned, gave their names 
 
 " They all belong to a gang of wharf thieves and 
 plunderers. They live in a slum near the water. I wi]l 
 have men posted in the lanes leading to it, and will 
 myself go with you to see that a search is made of every 
 house; but first I will try to find out from these fellows 
 where he was to be taken. Now, my men," he said, 
 ** anyone of you who will tell me where one of the party 
 3'ou attacked was to be taken to will find things made 
 easy for him at his trial." 
 
290 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 None of the men spoke for a minute, and then one said: 
 
 " We know nothing about it; how should we, when we 
 were all knocked stupid?" 
 
 " No, but you might know where he was to be taken." 
 
 " I know nothing about that. We all got word to 
 mind we were on the wharf when a brig, that was seen 
 coming up, came alongside, and that we were to have 
 a hundred francs each for attacking some of the passen- 
 gers as they landed. Six of them came along together, 
 and one said, ' These are the men.' A black sailor came 
 up first and spoke to two or three men in some foreign 
 language. I don't know who the men were; it was too 
 dark to see their faces. It was one of them who gave 
 the order. It seemed an easy job enough when there 
 were twenty-five of us with heavy sticks, but it didn't 
 turn out so. I only know that I hit one big fellow a 
 blow that ought to have knocked him down, and the next 
 moment there was a crash, and I don't know anything 
 more about it until a lot of water was thrown over me 
 and one of the watch helped me to my feet. I don't 
 know whether the others know more than I do, but I 
 don't think they do." 
 
 All the others protested at once that they were equally 
 ignorant. They had gone to earn a hundred francs. 
 They had been told that the money was all right, but 
 who found it or who were the men to be attacked they 
 had not the least idea. 
 
 " How was it that you all had these bludgeons — there 
 were no knives found on any of } r ou? " 
 
 The man who spoke before said: 
 
 " The order was ' No knives,' and before we went down 
 to the wharf each of us was searched and a stick given 
 to us. I suppose from that, that whoever paid for the 
 job didn't want blood to be shed; it suited us well 
 enough, for it was a job there was sure to be a row over, 
 and I don't suppose any of us wanted to put his head in 
 a noose. I know that we all said to each other as we 
 went out that it did not want such sticks as we had to 
 give a man a thrashing, but the man who hired us, who- 
 ever he was, knew his customers better than we did." 
 
 The officer translated the man's words as they were 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 291 
 
 spoken to Dick, and on hearing the last speech, the latter 
 said: 
 
 " Then there is still hope that Thorndyke may only 
 have been stunned; that is a greater reason for our 
 losing no time in looking for him, for I am afraid that 
 they won't hesitate to kill him when they have got him 
 hidden away." 
 
 " I expect," the Lieutenant said, " they thought that 
 if any of the watch came upon them as they were carry- 
 ing him off, they might be at once arrested if it was found 
 that they were carrying a dead man, whilst if he were 
 only stunned they would say that it was a drunken com- 
 rade who had fallen and knocked his head against some- 
 thing. I agree with you, sir; we had better start on our 
 search at once." 
 
 "Will you pass the Hotel d'Hollande? If not, I will 
 run and bring my men." 
 
 " Yes, I will go that way; it will be no further." 
 
 Dick walked on fast. 
 
 " We have no news of him,"' he said, as he entered the 
 room where the four men were anxiously awaiting him, 
 " but we and the watch are now going to search the slums 
 where the men who were taken prisoners all live; come 
 down now, and I will tell you what I have learned, before 
 the others come up. There is reason for believing that 
 he was not stabbed," he went on, as they reached the 
 street, " for the men all say that they were armed only 
 with clubs, and that the strictest orders were given that 
 none were to carry knives, therefore there is little doubt 
 that he was at the time only stunned. But I am bound 
 to say that this gives me very small ground for hoping 
 that we may find him alive. I fear they only stunned 
 him, so that they might carry him safely to their haunts, 
 for if stopped they could say that it was a drunken com- 
 rade, who had fallen and hurt himself. I fear that when 
 they get him into one of their dens they will make 
 short work of him, therefore it is clear that there is not 
 a moment to be lost. Ah, here comes the watch." 
 
 There were eight men with the Lieutenant. 
 
 " I have already sent off ten others," he said as he 
 joined Chetwynd, " to watch the lanes, and let no one 
 
292 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 go in or out. I thought it best not to lose a moment 
 about that, for when the men see that we have learned 
 from the others where the gang came from, and have 
 closed the avenues of escape, they will hesitate about 
 murdering their prisoner if he was still alive when my 
 men got there." 
 
 In a quarter of an hour they arrived at the end of a 
 narrow lane, where two watchmen were standing with 
 lanterns. 
 
 " You have seen nor heard nothing? " the Lieutenant 
 asked him. 
 
 " No, sir, we have not seen a man moving in the lane." 
 
 " There is just one hope that we might be in time," the 
 Lieutenant said, as he went on down the lane, " and that 
 is, that the fellows when they gather will be so dismayed 
 at finding that nearly half their number are missing, and 
 know that some of them are pretty sure to make a clean 
 breast of it, they will hesitate to complete their crime. 
 It is one thing to rob a man in the streets, quite another 
 to murder him in cold blood. There is likely to be a 
 good deal of difference of opinion among them, some of 
 the more desperate being in favor of carrying the thing 
 through, but others are sure to be against it, and nothing 
 may have been done. You may be sure that the sight 
 of my men at the end of the lanes will still further alarm 
 them. I have no doubt the news that we have sur- 
 rounded the district has already been circulated, and that 
 if alive now he is safe, for they will think it is better to 
 suffer a year or two's imprisonment than to be tried for 
 murder. We are sure to make some captures, for it is 
 probable that several of the others will bear marks of the 
 fight. Each man we take we will question separately; 
 one or other of them is pretty safe to be ready to say 
 where your friend was taken to if I promise him that he 
 shan't be prosecuted." 
 
 Every house in the district was searched from top to 
 bottom. Six men, with cut and bruised faces, were found 
 shamming sleep, and were separately questioned closely; 
 all declared that they knew nothing whatever of anyone 
 being carried there. 
 
 " It is of no use your denying your share in the affair/ 7 
 
COLONEL THORNDYEE'8 SECRET. 29S 
 
 the Lieutenant said. " Your comrades have confessed 
 that there were twenty-five of you hired to carry out this, 
 and that you received a hundred francs each. Now, if 
 this gentleman is not found, it will be a hanging matter 
 for some of you, and you had better tell all you know. 
 If you will tell us where he is, I will promise that you 
 shan't be included in the list of those who will be 
 prosecuted." 
 
 The reply, although put in different words, was identi- 
 cal with that of the prisoners. 
 
 " We had nothing to do with carrying him off; we 
 were hired only to knock the men down who were pointed 
 out to us; not a word was said about carrying them off. 
 He may have been carried off, that we cannot say, but he 
 has certainly not been brought here, and none of us had 
 anything to do with it." 
 
 Morning was breaking before the search was concluded. 
 The detectives, accustomed as they were to visit the worst 
 slums of London, were horrified at the crowding, the 
 squalor, and the misery of the places they entered. 
 
 " My opinion, Mr. Chetwynd," Gibbons growled, " is 
 that the best thing to do would be to put a score of 
 soldiers at the end of all these lanes, and then to burn 
 the whole place down, and make a clean sweep of it. 
 I never saw such a villainous-looking crew in all my life. 
 I have been in hopes all along that some of them would 
 resist; it would have been a real pleasure to have let fly 
 at them." 
 
 " They are a villainous set of wretches, Gibbons, but 
 they may not be all criminals." 
 
 " Well, I don't know, sir; but I know that if I were on 
 a jury, and any of the lot were in the dock, I should not 
 want to hear any evidence against them; their faces are 
 enough to hang them." 
 
 At last the search was over, and they were glad indeed 
 when they emerged from the lanes and breathed the pure 
 air outside, for all the Englishmen felt sick at the poison- 
 ous air of the dens they had entered. The prisoners, as 
 they were taken, had been sent off to the watch-house. 
 
 " I begin to think that the story these fellows tell is a 
 true one, Mr. Chetwynd," the Lieutenant said, " and that 
 
294 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 they had nothing to do with carrying your friend off. In 
 the first place, they all tell the same story: that in itself 
 would not he much, as that might have been settled 
 beforehand; but it is hardly likely that one of the lot 
 would not have been ready to purchase his life by turn- 
 ing on the others. There is very little honor among 
 thieves; and as they know that we have taken their mates 
 — for no doubt we were watched as we marched them 
 up the town — they would make sure that someone would 
 turn traitor, and would think they might as well be 
 beforehand. I fancy that the men, whoever they are, 
 who hired this gang to attack you, carried out that part 
 of the business themselves." 
 
 " I am afraid that is so," Dick agreed; " and I fear in 
 that case that he is in even worse hands than if these 
 ruffians here had taken him." 
 
 " Well, sir, can you furnish us with any clew? " 
 
 " The only clew is that they were most probably dark 
 men. That man who was killed was undoubtedly one of 
 them. I should say that they would probably be got up 
 as foreign sailors." 
 
 " Well, that is something to go upon, at any rate. I 
 will send round men at once to all the places b}^ the quays 
 where sailors board, and if three or four of them have 
 been together at any place we are sure to hear of it, and 
 the moment I have news I will send to your hotel." 
 
 " Thank you; I don't see that we can be of any use at 
 present, but you will find us ready to turn out again the 
 moment we hear that you have news." 
 
 When the party returned to the hotel they sat talking 
 the matter over for upwards of an hour. All were 
 greatly discouraged, for they had little hope indeed of 
 ever learning what had become of Mark. As they had 
 started out Dick had told the night porter that he could 
 not say what time they might return, but that before the 
 house closed he must have a couple of bottles of spirits 
 and some tumblers sent up to their sitting room, together 
 with some bread and cold meat, for that they might not 
 return until morning, and would need something before 
 they went to bed, as they had had nothing since their 
 dinner, at one o'clock. 
 
COLONEL THOBND YKE'S SECRET. 295 
 
 " It wants something to take the taste of that place 
 out of one's mouth," Tring said to Dick, as, directly they 
 entered, he poured some spirits into the glasses. " I feel 
 as queer as if I had been hocussed." 
 
 All, indeed, were feeling the same, and it was not until 
 they had eaten their supper and considerably lowered the 
 spirits in the two bottles that they began to talk. The 
 two detectives were the principal speakers, and both of 
 these were of opinion that the only shadow of hope 
 remaining rested upon Mark himself. 
 
 " Unless they finished him before he came round," 
 Malcolm said, " they would find him an awkward 
 customer to deal with. Mr. Thorndyke has got his head 
 screwed on right, and if, as you say, they are Indians, Mr. 
 Chetwynd, I should think that if he once comes fairly 
 round, unless he is tied up, he will be a match for them, 
 even with their knives. That is the only chance I see. 
 Even if the watch do find out that three or four foreign 
 sailors have been at one of the boarding-houses and 
 did not turn up last night, I don't think we shall be 
 much nearer. They will probably only have carried 
 him some distance along the wharf, got to some quiet 
 place where there is a big pile of wood, or something of 
 that sort, then put a knife into him, searched for the 
 diamonds, which you may be sure they would find easily 
 enough wherever he had hidden them, and then make off, 
 most likely for Eotterdam or The Hague; they could be 
 at either of these places by this time, and will mostly 
 likely divide the diamonds and get on board different 
 craft, bound for London or Hull, or indeed any other 
 port, and then ship for India. From what Mr. Thorn- 
 dyke said they did not want the diamonds to sell, but 
 only to carry back to some temple from which they were 
 stolen twenty years ago." 
 
 Chester was of precisely the same opinion. 
 
 " I am afraid, Mr. Chetwynd," he added, as they rose 
 to go to their rooms for two or three hours' sleep, " the 
 only news that we shall get in the morning is that Mr. 
 Thorndyke's body has been found." 
 
CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 At ten o'clock a constable came with a message from 
 the Lieutenant to Mr. Chetwynd that he would be glad if 
 he would come down to the watch-house. Dick did not 
 wake the others, but freshening himself up by pouring a 
 jug of water over his head, went at once with the 
 constable. 
 
 " Have you news ? " he asked eagerly as he entered. 
 
 " Yes, the men returned an hour ago. At four of the 
 houses they went to a foreign sailor had been lodging 
 there for the last day or so, but yesterday afternoon all 
 had paid their reckoning and left. Then the idea struck 
 me that it would be as well to ask if they had been seen 
 on the quays, and I sent off a fresh batch of men to make 
 inquiries. A quarter of an hour ago one of them came 
 back with the news that he had learned from a sailor that 
 he had noticed a dark-colored foreigner, whom he took 
 to be a Lascar sailor, talking to a boatman, and that they 
 had rowed off together to a barge anchored a short way 
 out; he did not notice anything more about him. 
 
 " Now, I should not be at all surprised if the fellow 
 went off to arrange with the bargeman for a passage for 
 himself and four or five comrades to some port or other, 
 it might be anywhere. It would make no difference to 
 them where the barge was bound for. No doubt he saw 
 the man again after the brig was sighted, and told him 
 that they should come on board soon after it got dark, 
 and told him to have the boat at the stairs. You see, in 
 that case they might not< have carried Mr. Thorndyke 
 above fifty yards. They would probably get him on 
 board as one of their party who had been drunk. The 
 barge, no doubt, got under way about nine o'clock, which 
 is the hour when the tide was high last night, and during 
 the night the Indians could easily drop your friend over- 
 board — and may even have done so before they got under 
 
 286 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 297 
 
 way, which would have heen the easiest thing to do. 
 There would have been no one at the helm, and they 
 could have chosen a moment when the crew, probably 
 only three, were below. I am afraid that this is not a 
 cheering lookout, but I have little doubt that it is the 
 correct one. 
 
 " I have told my men to find out what barge was lying 
 at the spot the sailor pointed out, and if we discover her 
 name, which we are likely to be able to do, there will be 
 no difficulty in finding out to whom she belongs and 
 where she was bound for. Then we can follow it up; 
 though there is little likelihood of our finding the 
 murderers still on board." 
 
 " Thank you very much for the pains that you are 
 taking, sir," Dick said. " I am afraid that there is no 
 shadow of hope of finding my poor friend alive. I have 
 no doubt that the thing has happened exactly as you 
 suggest; the whole course of the affair shows how care- 
 fully it was planned, and I have no hope that any scruple 
 about taking life would be felt by them for a moment. 
 I will go back to the hotel, and I shall be obliged if you 
 will let me know as soon as you obtain any clew as to the 
 barge." 
 
 An hour and a half later the officer himself came round 
 to the room where Dick Chetwynd and the two pugilists 
 were sitting. The detectives had started out to make 
 inquiries on their own account, taking with them a 
 hanger-on at the hotel who spoke English. 
 
 " The barge's name was the Julie," he said; " she has 
 a cargo on board for Eotterdam." 
 
 " I think the best thing would be to take a carriage, 
 and drive there at once," Dick said. 
 
 " You can do that, sir, but I don't think you will be 
 there before the barge; they have something like eighteen 
 hours' start for you, and the wind has been all the time 
 in the east. I should say that they would be there by 
 eight o'clock this morning." 
 
 " No, I don't know that it would be of any use, but at 
 least it would be doing something. I suppose we could 
 be there in four hours? " 
 
 " From that to five; but even if the barge were delayed, 
 
298 COLONEL THOBNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 and you got there first, which is very unlikely, I do not 
 think that there would be the remotest chance of finding 
 those villains on board. I reckon they would, as we 
 agreed, launch the body overboard even before they got 
 under way here, and they may either have landed again 
 before the craft got under way, pretending that they had 
 changed their minds, and then walked across to The 
 Hague or to Haarlem, or have gone on with the barge 
 for two hours, or even until daybreak. If by that time 
 they were near Eotterdam, they may have stayed on board 
 till they got there; if not, they may have landed, and 
 finished the journey on foot, but they would certainly 
 not have stopped on board after six or seven o'clock this 
 morning. They would calculate that possibly we might 
 get on their track at an early hour this morning, and set 
 out in pursuit at once. 
 
 " However, it will doubtless be a satisfaction to you to 
 be moving, and at least you will be able to overhaul the 
 barge when you get to Rotterdam, and to hear what the 
 boatmen say. The chances are they will not even have 
 noticed that one of the men who came on board was 
 missing. The men may very well have made up a long 
 bundle, carried it on shore with them, or three of them 
 may have carried a fourth ashore; and in the dark the 
 bargemen were unlikely to have noticed that the number 
 was less than when they came on board. However, it 
 will be something for you to find out when and where the 
 fellows landed." 
 
 "Yes; I should certainly like to lay hands on them, 
 though I am afraid we should find it very hard to prove 
 that they had anything to do with this affair." 
 
 " I think that also, Mr. Chetwynd. Morally, we may 
 feel absolutely certain; but, unless the boatmen noticed 
 that one of their number was missing when they landed, 
 we have at present no evidence to connect them with it." 
 
 " We will set out as soon as my other two men return. 
 I told them to be back soon after twelve. I will write to 
 you this evening from Eotterdam. Ah! here are the 
 men." 
 
 The door opened, and, to the stupefaction of the party, 
 Mark Thorndyke entered the room. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 299 
 
 " Good Heavens, Mark! " Dick exclaimed, springing 
 forward and seizing his hand, " is it really you alive in 
 the flesh? We had given you up for dead. We have 
 been searching the town for you all night, and were just 
 going to set out for Eotterdam in search of a barge on 
 which we believed you were carried. Why, it seems 
 almost a miracle! " 
 
 The two prizefighters also came forward, and shook 
 hands with a pressure that would have made most men 
 shrink. 
 
 " I am as glad, Mr. Thorndyke," Gibbons said, " as if 
 anyone had given me a thousand pounds. I have never 
 quite given up hope, for, as I said to Mr. Chetwynd, if 
 you got but a shadow of a chance, you would polish off 
 those nigger fellows in no time; but I was afraid that 
 they never would give you a chance. Well, I am glad, 
 sir." 
 
 " Mark, this is the Lieutenant of the watch here," Dick 
 said. "He has been most kind, and. has himself headed 
 the search that has been made for you all night. Now 
 tell us all about it." 
 
 " First of all give me something to drink, for, except 
 some water, I have had nothing since dinner yesterday. 
 You are right, Dick; it is almost a miracle, even to me, 
 that I am here. I would not have given a penny for my 
 chance of life, and I can no more account for the fact that 
 I am here than you can." 
 
 Mark drank off a tumbler of weak spirits and water 
 that Gibbons poured out for him. Chetwynd rang the 
 bell, and ordered lunch to be brought up at once. Just 
 at this moment the two detectives came in, and were 
 astonished and delighted at finding Mark there. 
 
 " Now," he said, " I will tell you as much as I know, 
 which is little enough. When I came to my senses I 
 found myself lying on the deck of a craft of some sort; 
 it was a long time before I could at all understand how 
 I got there, I think it was the pain from the back of 
 my head that brought it to my mind that I must have 
 been knocked down and stunned in that fight; for some 
 time I was very vague in my brain as to that, but it all 
 came back suddenly, and I recalled that we had all got 
 
500 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 separated. I was hitting out, and then there was a crash c 
 Yes, I must have been knocked down and stunned, and 
 I could only suppose that in the darkness and confusion 
 I had been carried off and taken on board without any 
 of you missing me; my hands and feet were tied, and 
 there was something shoved into my mouth that pre- 
 vented me from speaking. 
 
 " I should think that it must have been an hour before 
 I quite recovered my senses, and got the thing fairly into 
 my mind. Then a man with a knife leant over me, and 
 made signs that if I spoke he would stab me, and another 
 took the gag out of my mouth and poured some water 
 down my throat, and then put it in again. I saw that 
 he was a dark-colored man, and I then understood it 
 all; it was those Hindoos who had got up the attack 
 upon us and had carried me off. I had no doubt they 
 had got the diamonds I had sewn up in the waistband 
 of my trousers. 
 
 " I wondered why they were keeping me, but was sure 
 they would stab me presently and throw me overboard. 
 I knew that they had killed two soldiers for the sake of 
 the diamonds, and if it hadn't been that they had given 
 me the water, I should not have had a shadow of doubt 
 about my fate." 
 
 " I puzzled over why they should have done so, and 
 came to the conclusion that they dared not do it on 
 board, because of the crew, and that they intended to 
 take me on shore somewhere, and there dispose of me. 
 I made many attempts to loosen my ropes, but they 
 would not give the slightest. At last I think I dozed 
 off for a time. After I had had the water they drew a f 
 blanket or something of that sort over me. It had been 
 there before, but it had only been pulled up as high as 
 my nose, and I felt sure that it was only done to prevent 
 the Dutchmen on the boat seeing that I was bound and 
 
 I; this time they pulled it right over my face. 
 When they took it off again I could see it was nearly 
 morning, for there was a faint light in the sky. They 
 were moving about on the deck, and presently I saw one 
 of the sailors get into the boat and pull it along, hand 
 over hand, by the rail, until he was close to me. Then 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 801 
 
 four Lascar sort of chaps — I could scarcely make out 
 their features — lifted me and lowered me into the boat 
 and got in themselves. 
 
 " I did not attempt to struggle. ISTo doubt they had 
 made up some tale that I was mad or something of that 
 sort, and I thought that I had best pretend to be quiet 
 and peaceable till I could see some sort of chance of 
 making a fight for it. It was but a few yards from the 
 shore. The man lifted me out onto the bank, and the 
 sailor then started to row back to the barge; they carried 
 me a few yards away, and then laid me face downwards 
 on some grass. Now, I thought to myself, it is all over; 
 they are going to stab me and make off. To my surprise 
 I felt they were doing something — I could not make out 
 what — to the ropes; then there was quiet. I lay there 
 I should think for half an hour, wondering why on earth 
 they did not finish me. At last I made up my mind to 
 move, and turned round onto my back. As I lay there 
 I could see no one, and, raising my head, looked round. 
 To my amazement I found that I was alone. It was now 
 almost light, and as I craned my head in all directions I 
 assured myself that they had gone; then I began to try 
 again at the ropes. 
 
 " To my surprise I found that they were much looser 
 than they were before, although still tight enough to 
 give me nearly an hour's work before I got my hands 
 free. Then it took me almost as long to get the ropes 
 off my legs, for they had knotted f ,hem in such a fearfully 
 intricate way that it was a long time before I could even 
 discover where the ends were. At last I finished the job, 
 stood up, and looked round. A quarter of a mile off 
 there was a good-sized town, but not a soul could I 
 see. 
 
 " Till now I had hardly thought of the diamonds; I put 
 my hands to my waistband and found, as I expected, that 
 they were gone. I think I felt nothing but pleasure: 
 the confounded things had given trouble enough, and I 
 was well rid of them. Why they should have spared my 
 life I could not imagine. If they had finished me, which 
 they could have done without any risk to themselves 
 when they got me ashore, they could have gone off with 
 
302 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 the diamonds without the slightest fear of pursuit, while 
 now there was, of course, a chance that I might follow 
 and recognize them." 
 
 " Would you know them again? " the Lieutenant 
 interrupted. 
 
 " Not in the slightest; it was light enough to see that 
 they were dark, but from the time the boat came along 
 the blanket was over my head, and except when they 
 gave me the water I had no chance of seeing any of 
 their features. Still, if I had gone straight to the town 
 I saw and reported the matter to the authorities and 
 sent mounted men to all the ports to warn them not to 
 let any colored men embark, I might have given them 
 a lot of trouble, but I don't suppose any of them would 
 ever have been caught. After the craft they had shown 
 in the whole matter, it is certain that they would have 
 laid their plans for escape so well that the law would 
 never have laid hands upon them. I put my hand 
 mechanically to my watch to see the time, and to my 
 astonishment discovered that I still had it in my pocket, 
 and was equally surprised to find that the money in my 
 trousers' pockets was also untouched. The watch had, 
 of course, stopped. I first of all went down to the water 
 and had a good wash; then I proceeded to the town, and, 
 going to a hotel, ordered breakfast." 
 
 " Why, I thought you said that you had had nothing to 
 eat, Mark." 
 
 " Yes? Well, I had forgotten all about that breakfast. 
 The people looked a good deal surprised at an English- 
 man walking in in that way. While I was eating my 
 breakfast two men — who were, I suppose, authorities of 
 some kind — who spoke English, came and questioned me. 
 As I had made up my mind to say nothing more about the 
 affair, I merely told them that I had come for a sail from 
 Amsterdam, and that I wanted a carriage to take me 
 back. They were evidently astonished at my choosing a 
 dark night for such a trip, but I said that I had some 
 curiosity to see how the boatmen navigated their vessel 
 when there were no lighthouses or anything to steer by. 
 They asked a few more questions, and then went away, 
 evidently thinking that I was a little mad. However, 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 303 
 
 they must have spoken to the landlord, who in a short 
 time made signs that the carriage was at the door. 
 
 " I had avoided asking the men either the name of the 
 place or how far it was from any big town, because that 
 would have made the whole affair more singular. It was 
 a quarter-past eight when I started, and beyond the fact 
 that I know by the sun we came pretty nearly due east, 
 I have not the slightest idea of the road. The coachman 
 could not speak a word of English. I should say we 
 came about seven miles an hour, and stopped once to bait 
 the horses, so I suppose that I must have been between 
 four and five miles from Rotterdam when I landed." 
 
 Lunch had by this time been laid on the table, and at 
 Dick's invitation the Lieutenant joined them. 
 
 " It is an extraordinary story! " he said. " That your 
 life should have been spared is altogether beyond my 
 comprehension, still more so why they should have left 
 you your money and watch." 
 
 " The whole story is extraordinary," Dick Chetwynd 
 said; " for we have every reason to believe that those 
 fellows, or at least one or two of them, have been patiently 
 watching for a chance of carrying off those diamonds for 
 twenty years. When my friend told me of it ten days 
 ago I did not believe that it could be possible; but he has 
 certainly shown that he was correct in his opinion." 
 
 Mark then related the history of the jewels, surprising 
 the pugilists and detectives as much as the Lieutenant. 
 
 " It is extraordinary indeed," the latter said. " I 
 should not have believed it possible that men would de- 
 vote so many years to such a purpose, nor that they could 
 have succeeded in tracing the diamonds in spite of the 
 precaution taken by your uncle, and afterwards by your- 
 self. It would seem that from the time he landed in 
 England he, and after him your father and yourself, must 
 have been watched almost night and day. I can under- 
 stand now why they did not take your watch and money. 
 They evidently acted from a sort of religious enthusiasm, 
 and were no ordinary thieves, but as evidently they did 
 not hesitate to kill, I cannot understand why they should 
 have added to their risks by sparing you." 
 
 " No, that is what puzzles me," Mark agreed. " I was 
 
304 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET.' 
 
 thinking it over while we were driving here. Now let me 
 hear about the fight, Dick. How did you all come out 
 of it?" 
 
 " As well as could be expected. Gibbons and Tring 
 both got some heavjr blows with the cudgels, as indeed 
 we all did more or less, but they did great execution. 
 Eleven fellows were left senseless on, the ground, and one 
 of them, that black fellow who came over with us, was 
 killed. The other ten are all in prison. All of us did 
 our best, and managed to leave our mark on eight others, 
 who were in consequence picked out, and are also in 
 jail." 
 
 Dick went on to relate the particulars of the search. 
 
 " You see, our friend here had traced you to the barge 
 and found out her destination, and if you had come ten 
 minutes later you would have found that we had all just 
 started for Eotterdam. I was only waiting for Chester 
 and Malcolm to return to set out. I am sorry, Mark, 
 that you have lost your diamonds; not so much because 
 they are gone, for I can well understand you to be 
 thoroughly glad to be rid of such dangerous articles, but 
 because they have carried them off in our teeth, after we 
 have been specially retained to protect you. I certainly 
 thought that with such a bodyguard you were absolutely 
 safe from any number of Hindoos." 
 
 " Yes, we made a regular mess of it, Mr. Thorndyke," 
 Gibbons said. " I never felt so certain -of winning a 
 battle as I did that you would not be touched as long as 
 we were looking after you. Tring and I, if we had been 
 asked, would have said that we could each have taken on 
 a dozen foreigners easily. Mr. Chetwynd is handy with 
 his fists too, though he hasn't your weight and reach, and 
 your two other friends are both pretty well accustomed to 
 deal with rough customers. As for Tring and me, it 
 makes one feel small to know that we have been bested 
 by a handful of niggers, or Hindoos, or whatever the 
 chaps are, whom a good-sized boy of twelve ought to be 
 able to polish off." 
 
 " Now, Mark, what is to be done next? " Dick Chetwynd 
 asked. 
 
 " The next thing will be to get back as soon as we can, 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE '8 SECRET. 305 
 
 Dick. I, for one, have had enough of Holland to last me 
 for a lifetime." 
 
 " I am afraid, gentlemen," the Lieutenant said, " you 
 will have to wait a day or two before you can leave. I 
 have nineteen men in prison, and there will be a meeting 
 of magistrates this afternoon. Now you have come back, 
 Mr. Thorndyke, the charge against them won't be as 
 serious as it would have been before, but they are guilty 
 of a desperate and premeditated assault upon six passen- 
 gers on their arrival here; they have already admitted 
 that they were paid for their work; and as among them 
 are some of the worst characters in the city, you may be 
 sure that now we have got them fairly in our hands we 
 shall not let them go. It is so simple an affair that the 
 investigation ought not to take long, but we shall want 
 to find out, if we can, who acted as the intermediary be- 
 tween the Hindoos and the prisoners. I should think 
 that two meetings ought to be sufficient for the present, 
 but I am afraid that there may then be a long remand, 
 and that you will either have to remain here or to come 
 over again." 
 
 " It would be a horrible nuisance," Dick said; " still it 
 would be better to come back again than to wait here 
 indefinitely, and anyhow I don't suppose it would be 
 necessary for all of us to come back again." 
 
 " I should not mind if it could be arranged for me to 
 be here again in a month's time," Mark agreed, " for, to 
 tell you the truth, I am going to be married in less than 
 three weeks, and as I had intended to come to Brussels, 
 and afterwards to travel for a while, I could make a visit 
 here without greatly putting myself out." 
 
 " I will try and arrange that, Mr. Thorndyke." 
 
 " I shall be glad," Mark said, " if you can manage to 
 •get the men sentenced without going into the question 
 • of the diamonds at all, and treat the matter as a mere 
 attempt at robbery. It surely would not be necessary to 
 bring the question of my being carried away into the 
 matter at all; I can give evidence that I was knocked 
 flown and stunned, and that I was robbed of some jewels 
 that I had about me, which were the object of the attack." 
 
 " I think we should have to admit that," the J-»«u- 
 
306 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 tenant said; " it must come out that the attack was an 
 organized one." 
 
 " Well, if it must, it must," Mark said reluctantly; 
 " but then, you see, no end of questions would be asked, 
 and the thing might be dela}^ed while a search is being 
 made for the men who stole the bracelet." 
 
 " Well, we will keep it out of the inquiry if we can," 
 the Lieutenant said. " The meeting will be at three 
 o'clock. I will send a ma; to take you to the Town 
 Hall." 
 
 At the appointed hour the party proceeded to the 
 court, and the eighteen prisoners, under a strong guard, 
 having been brought in, six magistrates took their places 
 ■z>n the bench; the rest of the court was crowded, the 
 fray on the wharf and the number of captures having 
 created quite a stir in the city. They had arranged that 
 Tring should first give his evidence, which he did, the 
 Lieutenant of the watch acting as interpreter, though 
 most of the magistrates understood English. The ap- 
 pearance of the prisoners created quite a sensation in the 
 court, for the injuries that they had received were now 
 even more conspicuous than they had been when they 
 were first captured; some of them had to be led into 
 court, their eyes being completely closed, others had their 
 heads bandaged, and all showed signs of tremendous 
 punishment. Tring related that he, with five others, had 
 come ashore together; one of his companions had a row 
 on board a ship they had crossed in, with a Lascar sailor, 
 who was a passenger, and they kept together as they were 
 crossing the wharf, thinking that possibly the man might 
 attempt to stab his companion. 
 
 " I was walking behind him," Tring went on, " when 
 the Lascar jumped suddenly out from among the men 
 standing about, and was about to stab my companion, 
 when I hit him just in time, and he went down; then 
 there was a rush, and we all got separated, and did as 
 well as we could until the watch came up; that is all that 
 I know about it." 
 
 "Is the Lascar among the prisoners?" one of the 
 magistrates asked the Lieutenant of the watch. 
 
 " No, sir, when picked up by one of my men he was 1 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 307 
 
 found to be dead; the blow had apparently killed him 
 instantly." 
 
 The other five then gave their evidence; it was similar 
 to that of Tring, save that being in front of him they 
 knew nothing of the attack by the Lascar. All they 
 knew about it was that there was a sudden rush upon 
 them by a number of men armed with bludgeons, that 
 they were separated, and that each defended himself until 
 the guard came up. 
 
 Some of the watch then gave evidence, and told how 
 on arriving at the spot eleven of the prisoners were found 
 lying senseless; how, on recovering, they were all taken 
 to the watch-house, where several of them were recog- 
 nized as notoriously bad characters; they had admitted 
 that they were paid to make the attack, which was ap- 
 parently the result of the private enmity of some person 
 or persons unknown to one or more of those attacked. 
 
 The Lieutenant then related the steps that he had 
 taken to capture others connected with the attack, and 
 that he found eight men bearing marks of the fray, and 
 that all these were also notorious characters, and associ- 
 ates of the prisoners first taken. The first witnesses were 
 again questioned; five of them said that, so far as they 
 knew, they had no personal enemies. Mark, who was the 
 last to get into the witness-box, said that he himself had 
 no enemies, but that an uncle of his, who was in the 
 British Indian service, had a sort of feud with some mem- 
 bers of a sect there on account of some jewels that he 
 had purchased, and which had, they declared, been stolen 
 from a temple. Two soldiers through whose hands these 
 things had passed, had been successively killed by them, 
 and his uncle had to the day of his death believed that 
 their vengeance would one day fall upon him. 
 
 " I can only suppose," continued Mark, " that I have 
 inherited the enmity they bore him, as I inherited the 
 jewels, and that the attack was really designed solely 
 against me, and the consequences might have been fatal 
 to me had it not been for the strength and courage of 
 my fellow passengers." 
 
 " Did they come with you for your protection, Mr. 
 Thorn dyke? " 
 
308 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 " To some extent, yes. The fact is, that I have for 
 some time been convinced that I was followed about by 
 natives of India, and remembering what my uncle had. 
 said on the subject, I became to some degree apprehen- 
 sive, and thought it as well to leave London for a short 
 time. That this attack was really instigated by the men 
 I have no doubt whatever, since, as you have heard, it 
 was begun by a Lascar, who tried to stab one of my 
 companions and who received a knockdown blow that 
 caused his death from one of the others. It is a well- 
 known fact that these people will cherish for many years 
 a determination to avenge any injury. However, I hope 
 that after the failure of this attempt upon my life I shall 
 hear no more of them." 
 
 " Were any knives found on the prisoners ? " the magis- 
 trates asked the Lieutenant of the watch. 
 
 "No, sir; all carried clubs. And they told me that 
 they had been especially ordered not to take knives, and 
 had indeed been searched before they came out." 
 
 " What impression do you gather from that, Mr. 
 Thorndyke?" 
 
 " My impression is, sir, that they desired to overpower 
 those with me and to beat them down, in order to carry 
 out their revenge upon me." 
 
 • After some consultation the magistrate who had before 
 spoken said: 
 
 " The prisoners will be remanded. It is necessary that 
 we should find out who was the chief culprit who bribed 
 this gang." 
 
 As soon as the prisoners were taken out of court Mark 
 slipped across to the magistrates, accompanied by the 
 Lieutenant as interpreter. 
 
 " I hope, gentlemen, that our presence here will not 
 be necessary, for it would be a matter of extreme incon- 
 venience. I may say that my marriage is fixed for to-day 
 three weeks, hence you can well imagine that I want to 
 return as soon as possible. Two of the men are, as you 
 Diave heard, Bow Street officers, whose preserve could not 
 well be spared." 
 
 The magistrates again consulted together. 
 
 "Your evidence has all been taken down by the clerk 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 309 
 
 of the court. Certainly we should not require your 
 presence at the remand; but whether we should do so at 
 the trial would, of course, depend upon whether these 
 men all own their guilt, which, having been taken red- 
 handed, it is likely enough they will do. We will consent, 
 therefore, to your leaving, if you will give us an under- 
 taking to return for the trial if your presence is necessary, 
 and that you will bring with you the man who struck 
 down the Lascar who commenced the fray, and one of 
 the others." 
 
 " That I will do willingly," Mark replied. " We are 
 much obliged to you for your consideration. I shall be 
 traveling for a time after my marriage; but I will as I 
 pass through Belgium after my marriage give you the 
 route I intend to take and the address at which letters 
 will find me, and if you send me a sufficiently long notice 
 I will at once return for the trial." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " You managed that very well, Mark," Dick said. 
 " You kept well within the limits of truth without bring- 
 ing the real facts of the attack upon us into the case." 
 
 " Well, you see, Dick, after working as a detective, one 
 gets into the way of telling stories with the smallest 
 amount of deviation possible from the truth. What will 
 these fellows get done to them, Lieutenant?" 
 
 " I should say that they will get two or three years' 
 imprisonment; the only charge now is rioting and assault. 
 It is lucky for them that they had clubs instead of knives, 
 for that would have brought the matter under the head 
 of attempted murder. The matter of the gems was not 
 important in the case, but there is sure to be a great fuss 
 and search for the missing Indians. I suppose you will 
 soon be off home now? " 
 
 " Yes, I shall find out to-night what vessel leaves for 
 England to-morrow, and take a berth in the first that 
 sails for London. It is too late to think of starting this 
 evening, and indeed I feel that I want a long night's rest, 
 for I did not sleep much last night, and have not quite 
 recovered from that crack on my head." 
 
 On his return to the hotel Mark sent out a man to 
 inquire at the shipping offices, and finding that a bark 
 would sail at nine o'clock the next morning, they went 
 down and took berths, and sailed in her next day. The 
 voyage home was a rapid one, for the wind blew steadily 
 from the east, and the vessel made the passage to the 
 mouth of the river in two days, and the next took them 
 up to London. 
 
 " I will call round to-morrow or next day, Gibbons,, 
 with the checks for you both," Mark said as he prepared 
 "to go ashore. 
 
 " No, sir. We are both of one mind that we could 
 not take them. We went over to prevent you being 
 
 si? 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 311 
 
 robbed of those sparklers, and to see that you came to 
 no harm. Well, the things are lost, and you got knocked 
 down and carried away. It is no thanks to us that you 
 are alive now. It is a mortifying job, that with two 
 detectives to watch over things and with us to fight we 
 should have been fairly beat by a few black niggers." 
 
 " If there had been any bungling on your part, Gibbons, 
 there might be something in what you say, but no one 
 could have foreseen that before we had been on shore two 
 minutes we should have been attacked in that way. You 
 both did all that men could do, as was shown by the 
 condition of the fellows who were taken. I was just as 
 much separated from you as you were from me, and the 
 fact that we were surprised as we were is really due to 
 my not determining to stay on board until the morning, 
 which I could no doubt have done with the captain's 
 permission. It never struck me for a moment that we 
 should be attacked in force. I thought it probable that 
 an attempt at assassination would be made, but it cer- 
 tainly did not seem probable that it would be attempted 
 while you were all with me. You are not in the slightest 
 degree to blame' for your part of the agreement was 
 carried out to my satisfaction. I shall certainly carry out 
 mine, as I have arrived home safe and sound." 
 
 " Well, governor, it is very good of you; but I tell 
 you it will go against the grain for us to take your 
 money." 
 
 On landing, Mark parted with Dick Chetwynd, who had 
 arranged to drop Mark's bag at his lodgings on his way 
 home, and at once took a hackney coach to Islington. 
 Millicent gave a cry of delight as he entered the room. 
 
 " You are back earlier than I expected, Mark. You 
 told me before you started that the wind was in the east, 
 and that you might be a long time getting to Amsterdam 
 unless it changed. I have been watching the vane on the 
 church, and it has been pointing east ever since. Well, 
 you have sold the diamonds, I hope?" she said, after the 
 first greeting was over. 
 
 " No; I have bad news for you, Millicent; the jewels 
 have been stolen." 
 
 " Well it does not make much difference, Mark. We 
 
312 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 have much more than enough without them, so don't 
 bother yourself in the least. How did it happen? " 
 
 " Well, it is rather a long story. I will tell it you 
 when Mrs. Cunningham is here, so as not to have to go 
 over it twice. How are the dresses getting on? " 
 
 " I suppose they are getting on all right," she said. 
 "I have done nothing for the last two days but try them 
 on. You see, we put them out to three milliners, and 
 the}'' all three seem to reach the same point together, 
 and I start after breakfast, and it takes about two hours 
 at each place. You don't know what trouble you have 
 given me by hurrying things on so unreasonably." 
 
 " Well, it is better to have it all done and over," he 
 said, " than to have the thing hanging over you for a 
 couple of months." 
 
 " That is what Mrs. Cunningham says. Now I want 
 to hear about your adventures, and I will call her down. 
 Only think, Mrs. Cunningham," Millicent said presently, 
 with a laugh, after she had returned with -her, " this 
 silly boy has actually let the diamonds be stolen from 
 him." 
 
 "No, really, Millicent!" 
 
 " Yes, indeed. Fancy his not being fit to be trusted to 
 look after them! However, I tell him it is of no con- 
 sequence. I don't know how they went. He would not 
 tell me the story until you came down." 
 
 " I am sorry to say it is true, Mrs. Cunningham, 
 although I can assure you that I really cannot blame 
 myself for either carelessness or stupidity. I knew when 
 I started that there was a very great risk, and took what 
 seemed to me every possible precaution, for in addition 
 to Dick Chetwynd going with me, I took two detectives 
 from Bow Street and two prizefighters." 
 
 Exclamations of surprise broke from both ladies. 
 
 " And yet, in spite of all that, these things were stolen," 
 Millicent said. "How on earth did they do it? I 
 should have sewn them up in my pockets inside my 
 dress." 
 
 " I sewed them up in the waistband of my trousers, 
 Millicent, and yet they managed, in spite of us, to steal 
 them. And now I must begin by telling you the whole 
 
COLONEL THORKDTKE'S SECRET. 313 
 
 history of those diamonds, and you will understand why 
 I thought it necessary to take a strong party with me." 
 
 He then told them, repeating the history the Colonel 
 had given his father of the diamonds, and the conviction 
 that he had, that he had heen followed hy Hindoos, and 
 the instructions he had given for the disposal of the 
 bracelet. 
 
 " As you know," he said, " nothing happened to con- 
 firm my uncle's belief that there were men over here in. 
 search of the diamonds during my father's life, but since 
 then I have come to the same conclusion that he had, and. 
 felt positive that I was being constantly followed wher- 
 ever I went. As soon as I heard where the treasure was 
 I began to take every precaution in my power. I avoided 
 going to the bank after my first visit there, and, as you 
 know, would not bring the things for you to look at. I 
 got Dick Chetwynd to go there, open the case, and take 
 out these diamonds. He did not bring them away with 
 him, but fetched them from there the morning we 
 started. He went down and took the passage for us both 
 at the shipping office, and the pugilists and the detectives 
 each took passages for themselves, so that I hoped, how- 
 ever closely I was followed, they would not learn that I 
 was taking them to Amsterdam." 
 
 " It was very wrong, Mark; very wrong indeed," Milli- 
 cent broke in. " You had no right to run such a terrible 
 risk; it would have been better for you to have taken the 
 diamonds and thrown them into the Thames." 
 
 " That would not have improved matters," he said; 
 " the Indians would not have known that I had got rid 
 of them, and would have continued their efforts to find 
 them, and I should always have been in danger instead 
 of getting it over once for all. However, I did not think 
 that there was any danger, going over as I did, with 
 two of the best prizefighters in England, to say nothing 
 of the detectives, who were the men who were with me 
 when I caught Bastow. The only danger was that I 
 might be stabbed; but, as 'they would know, it was no use 
 their stabbing me unless" they could search me quietly, 
 and that they could notj do unless I was alone and in 
 some lonely neighborhood; and I had made up my mind 
 
314 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 not to stir out unless the whole party were with me. I 
 found out when we got on board that, in spite of all the 
 precautions I had taken, they had discovered that I was 
 going to sail for Amsterdam, which they could only have 
 done by following Dick as well as myself. There was 
 a dark-faced foreign sailor, who, I had no doubt, was a 
 Hindoo, already on board, and I saw another in a boat 
 watching us start; this was unpleasant, but as I felt sure 
 that they could not have known that I had with me 
 detectives and pugilists, I still felt that they would be 
 able to do nothing when I got to Amsterdam." 
 
 Then he told them the whole story of the attack, of 
 his being carried away, and of his unexpected release; of 
 the search that had been made for him, and the arrest 
 of eighteen of his assailants. 
 
 Millicent grew pale as he continued, and burst into 
 tears when she heard of his being a prisoner in the hands 
 of the Hindoos. 
 
 " I shall never let you go out of my sight again, Mark! " 
 she exclaimed when he had finished. " It was bad 
 enough before When you were searching for that man 
 here, and I used to be terribly anxious; but that was 
 nothing to this." 
 
 " Well, there is an end of it now, Millicent; the men 
 have got the diamonds, and will soon be on their way to 
 India, if they have not started already." 
 
 " Nasty things! " she said; " I shall never like diamonds 
 again: they will always remind me of the terrible danger 
 that you have run. Isn't it extraordinary that for 
 twenty years four or five men should be spending their 
 lives waiting for a chance of getting them back! " 
 
 " I do not expect there were so many as that; probably 
 there was only one. He would have no difficulty in 
 learning that my father had not received any extraor- 
 dinary gems from my uncle, and probably supposed 
 that they would not be taken out from wherever they 
 might be until you came of age. After the death of my 
 father he might suppose that I should take them out, or 
 that, at any rate, I should go to whoever had them, and 
 see that they were all right, and he then, perhaps, engaged 
 half a dozen Lascars — there "are plenty of them at the 
 
COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 315 
 
 docks — and had me watched wherever I went; and, do 
 you know, that I believe I once owed my life to them." 
 
 " How was that, Mark? " 
 
 "Well, I was captured by some fellows who suspected 
 me to be a Bow Street runner;, and I think that it would 
 have gone very hard with me if a party of five or six 
 prizefighters had not broken into the house, pretty 
 nearly killed the men in whose hands I was, and rescued 
 me. They said that they had heard of my danger from 
 a foreign sailor who called at Gibbons', with whom I was 
 in the habit of boxing, and told him about it. You see, 
 until they learned where the jewels were, my life was 
 valuable to them, for possibly I was the only person who 
 knew where they were hidden; so really I don't think I 
 have any reason for bearing a grudge against them. 
 They saved my life in the first place, and spared it at 
 what was a distinct risk to themselves. On the other 
 hand, they were content with regaining the bracelet, not 
 even, as I told you, taking my watch or purse. You see, 
 with them it was a matter of religion. They had no 
 animosity against me personally, but I have no doubt 
 they would have stabbed me without the slightest com- 
 punction had there been no other way of getting the 
 things. Still, I think that I owe a debt of gratitude to 
 them rather than the reverse, and, after all, the loss of 
 the bracelet is not a serious one to us." 
 
 " I am glad it is gone," Millicent said. " You say it 
 had already caused the death of two men, and if you had 
 succeeded in selling it I can't help thinking that the 
 money would have brought ill-fortune to us. I am 
 heartily glad that the diamonds are gone, Mark. I sup- 
 pose they were very handsome? " 
 
 " They were magnificent," he said. " Dick and Cotter 
 both agreed that they had never seen their equal, and I 
 fancy that they must have been worth a great deal more 
 than your father valued them at." 
 
 " Well, it does not matter at ail. There is no history 
 attached to the others, I hope, Mark? " 
 
 " Not in any way, dear. They were bought, as the 
 Colonel told my father, in the ordinary course of things, 
 and some, no doubt, were obtained at the capture of some 
 
316 COLONEL THORNDYKE' 8 SECRET. 
 
 of the native princes' treasuries; but it was solely on 
 account of this bracelet that he had any anxiety. You 
 can wear all the others, if you have a fancy for keeping 
 them, without a shadow of risk." 
 
 " No, Mark, we will sell them every one. I don't think 
 that I shall ever care to wear any jewels again; and if I 
 am ever presented at court and have to do so, I would 
 rather that you should buy some new ones fresh from a 
 jeweler's shop than wear anything that has come from 
 India." 
 
 " To-morrow you shall both go to the bank with me to 
 see them, and then I will take them to some first-class 
 jeweler's and get him to value them." 
 
 The visit was paid next day. Both Millicent and Mrs. 
 Cunningham were somewhat disappointed at the jewels. 
 
 " It is hardly fair to see them like this," Philip Cotter 
 said. " They would look very different if reset. No 
 Indian jewels I have ever seen show to advantage in their 
 native settings; but many of the stones are very large, 
 and without knowing anything about them I should say 
 that they are worth the £50,000 at which you say Colonel 
 Thorndyke valued them. He was not likely to be mis- 
 taken. He was evidently a judge of these matters, and 
 would hardly be likely to be far wrong." 
 
 " We will go with you to the jeweler's, Mark," Millicent 
 said. " In the first place, I shall not feel quite com- 
 fortable until I know that they are out of your hands, 
 and in the next place I should like to hear what he thinks 
 of them." 
 
 " I have a number of Indian jewels that I wish you to 
 value for me," Mark said, as, carrying the case, he entered 
 the jeweler's shop. " They were collected by Colonel 
 Thorndyke, an uncle of mine, during service in India." 
 
 The jeweler took them with him into a room behind 
 the shop. The case was opened, and the man took out 
 sixty-eight small parcels it contained, and opened them 
 one after the other. 
 
 " I shall need a very careful examination of these before 
 I can form any estimate of their value," he said, after 
 inspecting some of the more important pieces of jewelry 
 carefully. " They are a most magnificent collection,, and 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET- 317 
 
 had they been properly cut in the first place they would 
 have been worth a very large sum. Unfortunately, the 
 Indian princes think more of size than of lustre, and have 
 their stones cut very much too flat to show off their full 
 brilliancy. Some of these large ones I should certainly 
 advise to be re-cut, for what they will lose in weight they 
 will gain in beauty and value. However, sir, I will go 
 through them and give you an estimate of the selling 
 value of each piece. I need not say that they ought all 
 to be reset in the prevailing fashion; but the gold, which 
 is in some cases unnecessarily massive, will go some dis- 
 tance towards defraying the expense." 
 
 " When shall I call again? " Mark asked. 
 
 " I should be glad if you can give me a week," the 
 jeweler said. " Some of the things, for instance that 
 great pearl necklace, I could appraise without much diffi- 
 culty, but all the gems must be taken out of their settings 
 before I could form a fair idea of their value." 
 
 " Then I will call in a week's time," Mark said. " I am 
 in no particular hurry about them, but I would rather 
 that they were in your care than mine." 
 
 " Yes, if the cracksmen got word that there was such 
 a collection as this in any private house it would need a 
 couple of men with pistols to keep guard over them." 
 
 A week later Mark again called. 
 
 " I have the list ready for you, sir; you will see that 
 they are not marked according to their setting, but 
 according to their size and value. Thus, you see, the 
 largest stones are priced separately; the smaller ones are 
 in groups according to their weight. The total comes to 
 £42,000. I do not know whether that at all equals your 
 expectations. I may say that I have shown the stones to 
 two or three of our principal diamond merchants, and 
 that the prices I have put down are those at which they 
 would be willing to buy them; possibly some would be 
 worth more. I had the merchants here together, and 
 they spent some hours going through them, and the sums 
 put down are those at which one or other were willing 
 to purchase." 
 
 " It quite answers my expectations," Mark said. " My 
 uncle's estimate, indeed, was somewhat higher, but doubt- 
 
318 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S 8E0BET. 
 
 less he judged them at the price which they would fetch 
 in India. Well, sir, I authorize you to close with the 
 offers, and to dispose of them for me. I will give you a 
 written authority to do so. In the meantime, I wish to 
 buy a suite of jewels as a wedding present, a tiara, neck- 
 lace, and bracelets; but I do not want any diamonds to 
 be among them." 
 
 " I am afraid I have nothing in stock without 
 diamonds; of course, I have both necklaces and bracelets 
 of almost any stones that you might select, but I have no 
 complete set without diamonds; the effect would be 
 somber, and few ladies would like them." 
 
 " We have some unpleasant associations with dia- 
 monds," Mark said, " and on that point I am quite deter- 
 mined; but if you used pearls instead of diamonds the 
 effect might be as good. I don't care whether the stones 
 are emeralds or rubies; at any rate, I should like to see 
 some, and then perhaps you might be able to make me a 
 Bet on the same model." 
 
 Several superb sets were brought in; Mark selected one 
 of emeralds and diamonds. 
 
 " What would be the price of this set? " he asked. 
 
 " That set is £6000, sir; the stones are exceptionally 
 fine ones; but if you substituted pearls of equal size for 
 the diamonds, it would cost considerably less; I could 
 not give you the exact price until it is made, but I should 
 say that it would be about £4500." 
 
 " Very well, then, I will take that. How long will it be 
 making? " 
 
 " I should not like to say less than three months at 
 the earliest; it will require some time to collect as fine a 
 set of emeralds as these. Indeed, I think that most prob- 
 ably I shall use these emeralds, or the greater part of 
 them, and collect others to take their places at my 
 leisure. I do not know whether the best plan would not 
 be to take the diamonds out and substitute pearls; there 
 would be no difficulty in getting them, and in that case I 
 might have it ready for you in a month." 
 
 " I think that will be the best plan; but you need not 
 be in any particular hurry about them. My marriage will 
 take place in less than a fortnight, and after that I shall 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 319 
 
 probably be three or four months before I return to 
 London. I will get you to keep the things until I come 
 back." 
 
 " I have sold the jewels, Millicent," he said, when he 
 returned to Islington; " the jeweler has found purchasers 
 for them all, and the total comes to £42,000." 
 
 " Whatever shall we do with all our money, Mark? " 
 
 " I rather wonder myself, dear. However, there is one 
 thing, there are always plenty of people who will be glad 
 to relieve us of anything that we don't want. I can tell 
 you that in the course of my search for Bastow I have 
 seen an amount of poverty and misery such as I never 
 dreamt of, and I certainly should like to do something to 
 relieve it. The best thing that I know of would be to 
 give a handsome sum to three or four of the great 
 hospitals. I don't know of any better means of helping 
 the very poor." 
 
 " Suppose, Mark," the girl said, putting her hand on 
 his arm, " we give this £42,000 as a thank-offering. We 
 never expected to get it, and my father's jewels have 
 nearly cost you your life. We have such an abundance 
 without that, I should like, above all things, to give this 
 money away." 
 
 " I think that is an excellent plan, Millicent, and a 
 very happy thought on your part. We cannot do it now, 
 as we have not yet got the money, but as soon as we do 
 we will send off checks for 10,000 guineas each to St. 
 Bartholomew's, Guy's, and St. Thomas' — those are the 
 three principal ones; the others we can settle afterwards. 
 But I should say that the Foundling would be as good as 
 any, and I believe that they are rather short of funds at 
 present; then there is the London Mendicity Society, and 
 many other good charities. Perhaps it would be better 
 to divide the whole among eight of them instead of four; 
 but we need not settle that until we return." 
 
 Do you think we shall have to go to this horrid 
 Amsterdam, Mark?" 
 
 " I hope not, dear; but I shall no doubt hear from the 
 Lieutenant of the watch during the next week or ten 
 days." 
 
 When the letter came it was satisfactory. The pris- 
 
320^ COLONEL THORKDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 oners, seeing the hopelessness of any defense, had all ad- 
 mitted their guilt, and the name of the man who had 
 dealt with them had also been given up. Except in his 
 case there would be no trial. The others would have 
 sentences passed on them at once, and three, who had 
 been promised comparatively slight punishment, would go 
 into the box to give evidence against the man who had 
 engaged them. Before starting for Holland Mark had 
 consulted Millicent as to whether she would prefer being 
 married in London or at Crowswood. She had replied: 
 
 " I should greatly prefer Crowswood, Mark. Here we 
 know no one, there we should be among all our friends; 
 certainly if we don't go we must get Mr. Greg to come 
 up and marry us here. I am sure he would feel very 
 disappointed if anyone else were asked. At the same 
 time I should not like to go home. When we come back 
 from our trip it will be different; but it would be a great 
 trial now, and however happy we might be, I should feel 
 there was a gloom over the house." 
 
 " I quite agree with you, Millicent. When we come 
 back we can see about entirely refurnishing it, and, per- 
 haps, adding some rooms to it, and we need not go down 
 until a complete change has been made. We shall be 
 able to manage it somehow or other, and I quite agree 
 with you that anything will be better than going back to 
 the house for a day or two before the wedding." 
 
 On the voyage back from Holland Mark had talked the 
 matter over with Dick Chetwynd, and said that he 
 thought of taking rooms for Mrs. Cunningham and Milli- 
 cent at Keigate, and stopping at the hotel himself, and 
 having the wedding breakfast there. 
 
 " Of course, Dick, you will be my best man." 
 
 " I should think so," Dick laughed. " Why, if you had 
 asked anyone else I should have made a personal matter 
 of it with him, and have given him the option of resign- 
 ing the position or going out with me. But your other 
 plans are foolish, and I shall take the matter into my 
 own hands; I shall insist upon the two ladies coming 
 down to the Park, and I will get my aunt to come and 
 preside generally over things. I shall fill up the house 
 with bridesmaids, and shall have a dance the evening 
 
COLONEL TIIORNDYKE'S SECRET. 321 
 
 before. You can put up at the hotel if you like, but you 
 know very well that there are a dozen houses where they 
 will be delighted to have you; there is no doubt that 
 when they know what is coming off you will get a dozen 
 invitations, and then after church all those invited will 
 drive off to the Park to the wedding breakfast. After 
 that is over you can start in a post-chaise to Canterbury 
 or Dover, wherever you mav decide to make your first 
 halt." 
 
 " But, my dear Dick, I could not put you to all this 
 trouble!" 
 
 " Nonsense, man. I should enjoy it immensely; be- 
 sides, I shall be really glad of a good reason to try and 
 open the doors of the Park again. I have been there 
 very little since my father's death, and I think I shall 
 make it my headquarters in future. I am getting rather 
 tired of bachelor life in London, and must look out for a 
 wife; so nothing could be more appropriate than this 
 idea. Don't bother yourself any further about it. I 
 shall ride down and establish myself there to-morrow, 
 spend a couple of days in driving round to our friends 
 and in sending out invitations. I shall still have nearly a 
 fortnight for making all preparations. Why, it will 
 cause quite an excitement in the neighborhood! I shall 
 be hailed as a benefactor, and I shall let everyone know 
 that your father's ward was really your cousin, but that 
 by the will of her father she was to drop her surname 
 until she came of age; and that until that time your 
 father was to have the entire control of the property. I 
 shall add that although the estate, of course, is hers, your 
 uncle has left you a very big fortune, and that nothing 
 could be more suitable in all respects than the marriage." 
 
 " That will do excellently, Dick; that will be quite 
 enough, without going into details at all. You can 
 mention that we intend to have the house entirely refur- 
 nished, and on the return from our wedding trip abroad 
 to settle there. I am sure I am extremely obliged to you 
 for your offer, which will certainly clear away all sorts 
 of small difficulties." 
 
 A day or two after his return Mark wrote to Mr. 
 Greg, telling him the relations in which Millicent and he 
 
322 COLONEL THORND TEE'S SECRET. 
 
 stood to each other, and of the near approach of their 
 marriage. He said that Millicent would be married from 
 Dick Chetwynd's, but that it would be at Crowswood 
 church. In return he received a warm letter of congratu- 
 lation from the Eector, telling him that the news was in 
 every respect delightful, and that his wife and the chil- 
 dren were in a state of the highest excitement, not only 
 at the marriage, but at their coming down to reside again 
 at Crowswood. 
 
 " The village," he said, " will be scarcely less pleased 
 than I am, for though everything goes on as you ordered, 
 and the people get their milk, broths, and jellies as 
 before, they don't look at it as the same thing as it was 
 in the old days. I cannot say that the news of your 
 engagement to Miss Conyers — I ought to say Miss Thorn- 
 dyke — is surprising, for I had thought that it would be 
 quite the natural thing for you to fall in love with each 
 other, and, indeed, my wife declares that she saw it com- 
 ing on distinctly during the last few months before you 
 left here. Your postscript saying that Bastow had been 
 captured and had committed suicide gave me a distinct 
 feeling of relief, for no one could tell whether the deadly 
 enmity that he felt for your father might not extend to 
 you. I have cut this note rather short, but I have just 
 heard the door shut, and I am quite sure that my wife 
 has gone down to tell the good news in the village, and 
 I really cannot deny myself the pleasure of telling some 
 of the people myself, and seeing their faces brighten up 
 at the news." 
 
 As Dick had foretold would be the case, Mark received 
 a very warm letter from Sir Charles Harris, congratu- 
 lating him upon his approaching marriage, and insisting 
 upon his taking up his quarters with him. 
 
 " I am sending a man down with this to hand it to the 
 guard as the up coach goes through the town. Chetwynd 
 told me that his call on me was the first he had paid, so 
 I feel fairly confident that I shall forestall the rest of 
 your friends, and that you will give me the pleasure of 
 your company." 
 
 Mark wrote back accepting the invitation at once, 
 which enabled him to decline half a dozen others without 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S 'SECRET. 323 
 
 the necessity of making a choice. Everything turned out 
 as arranged. Millicent and Mrs. Cunningham went down 
 in a post-chaise, two days before the wedding, and Maris: 
 drove down in his gig with them. Dick Chetwynd met 
 them on horseback just outside Eeigate, and escorted the 
 ladies to his house, Mark driving on to that of Sir Charles 
 Harris. Millicent found the house full of her special 
 friends, whom she had asked to be her bridesmaids. She 
 was almost bewildered by the warmth of their welcome, 
 and overpowered by the questions poured upon her. 
 
 " The news quite took all our breath away, Millicent," 
 one of them said. " It seems extraordinary that you 
 should have been Miss Thorndyke all the time, though I 
 don't think that any of us were at all surprised that you 
 should take the name now; you must have been surprised 
 when you heard that you were the heiress of Crowswood." 
 
 " I was a great deal more disgusted than surprised," 
 she said rather indignantly. " I did not think that it 
 was fair at all that I should step into Mark's shoes." 
 
 " Well, it has all come right now, Millicent, and I dare 
 say you thought that it would, even then." 
 
 " I can assure you that I did not; quite the contrary, 
 I thought that it never would come right. I was very 
 unhappy about it for a time." 
 
 " Now, young ladies," Dick Chetwynd laughed, " will 
 you please take Mrs. Cunningham and Miss Thorndyke 
 up to their rooms? I don't suppose I shall see any more 
 of you before dinner-time; there are those trunks to be 
 opened and examined, talked over, and admired. Mind, 
 I have fifteen more, for the most part men, coming to 
 dinner, so those of you who aspire to follow Miss Thorn- 
 dyke's example had best prepare yourselves for conquest." 
 
 The ball on the following evening was a great success. 
 Dick had determined that it should be a memorable one, 
 and there was a consensus of opinion that it was the 
 most brilliant that had taken place in that part of the 
 country for many years. 
 
 Crowswood church and village presented a most festive 
 appearance on the following day; there was not a cottage 
 that had not great posies of flowers in its windows, and 
 that had not made some sort of attempt at decoration 
 
324 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 with flags or flowers. A huge arch of evergreens, with 
 sheaves of wheat and flowers, had been erected on the top 
 of the hill, and every man, woman, and child turned out 
 in their best, and cheered lustily, first, when Mark drove 
 up in his gig, and equally lustily when the Chetwynd 
 carriage, drawn by four gray horses, dashed up, preceded 
 by a large number of others with the bridesmaids and 
 friends. The church was already crowded, and Mr. Greg 
 was visibly moved at seeing the son and niece of the man 
 to whom he owed his living made man and wife. When 
 the wedding breakfast, at which more than fifty sat down, 
 and the necessary toasts were over, Mr. and Mrs. Thorn- 
 dyke started for Canterbury. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 It was not until Easter that Mark Thorndyke and his 
 wife returned to England. They had spent the greater 
 portion of that time in Italy, lingering for a month at 
 Venice, and had then journeyed quietly homewards 
 through Bavaria and Saxony. They were in no hurry, as 
 before starting on their honeymoon Mark had consulted 
 an architect, had told him exactly what he wanted, and 
 had left the matter in his hands. Mrs. Cunningham had 
 from time to time kept them informed how things were 
 going on. The part of the house in which the Squire's 
 room had been situated was entirely pulled down, and a 
 new wing built in its stead. Millicent had been specially 
 wishful that this should be done. 
 
 " I don't know that I am superstitious, Mark," she had 
 said, " but I do think that when a murder has taken place 
 in a house it is better to make a complete change. The 
 servants always think they see or hear something. That 
 part of the house is avoided, and it is difficult to get 
 anyone to stay there. I think it is very much more 
 important to do that than it is to get the house refur- 
 nished; we can do anything in that way you like when we 
 get back, but I should certainly like very much to have 
 the great alteration made before we return." 
 
 The architect was a clever one, and the house, which 
 was some two hundred years old, was greatly improved 
 in appearance by the new wing, which was made to har- 
 monize well with the rest, but was specially designed to 
 give as much variety as possible to the general outline. 
 Millicent uttered an exclamation of pleasure when they 
 first caught a glimpse of the house. As they rode through 
 the village they were again welcomed as heartily as they 
 were on their wedding day. Mrs. Cunningham received 
 them; she had been established there for a month, and 
 had placed the house entirely on its old footing. They 
 
 325 
 
326 COLONEL THORNDTKE'S SECRET. 
 
 first examined the new portion of the house, and Millicent 
 was greatly pleased with the rooms that had been pre- 
 pared for them, Mark having requested Mrs. Cunningham 
 to put the furnishing into the hands of the best-known 
 firm of the day. 
 
 " I have asked," Mrs. Cunningham said, " the Rector 
 and his wife and Mr. Chetwynd to dine with us this 
 evening; they can scarcely be termed company, and I 
 thought that you might find it pleasant to have these old 
 friends here the first evening. There is a letter for you 
 on the library table, Mark; it may almost be called, a 
 packet; it has been here nearly a month." 
 
 In our days a newly married couple would find on their 
 return from foreign travel basketfuls of letters, circulars, 
 and catalogues from tradesmen of all kinds; happily, our 
 forefathers were saved from these inflictions, and Mark at 
 once went to the library with almost a feeling of surprise 
 as to who could have written to him. He saw at once 
 that it was a ship's letter, for on the top was ' written,, 
 " Favored by the Surinam." 
 
 " Why, it is Ramoo's writing. I suppose he gave it to 
 someone he knew, and that instead of its being put in the 
 mail bag in India, he brought it on with him. What a 
 tremendously long epistle! " he exclaimed, glancing his 
 eye down the first page, and then a puzzled expression 
 came across his face; he sat down and began to read from 
 the first slowly and carefully. 
 
 " Honoeed Sahib: I do not know why I should write 
 to tell you the true history of all these matters. I have 
 thought it over many times, but I feel that it is right 
 that you should know clearly what has happened, and 
 how it has come about, and more especially that you 
 should know that you need never fear any troubles such 
 as those that have taken place. I am beginning to write 
 this while we are yet sailing, and shall send it to you by 
 ship from the Cape, or if it chances that we meet any 
 ship on her way to England, our letters may be put on 
 board her." 
 
 " Why, this letter must be more than a year old," 
 Mark said to himself. There was no date to the letter, 
 
COLONEL THORNLTKE'S SECRET. 327 
 
 but, turning to the last sheet, he saw as a postscript after 
 the signature the words, " January 26th. — A ship, the 
 Surinam, is lying a short distance from us, and will take 
 our letters to England." 
 
 " Yes, it must be a year old; but what he means by the 
 way he begins is more than I can imagine; " and he 
 turned back to the point at which he had broken off. 
 
 " I would tell it you in order as it happened. I, 
 Ramoo, am a Brahmin. Twenty years ago I was the head 
 priest of a great temple. I shall not say where the 
 temple was; it matters not in any way. There was fight- 
 ing, as there is always fighting in India. There were 
 Company's Sepoys and white troops, and one night the 
 most sacred bracelet of the great god of our temple was 
 stolen." 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " Mark exclaimed, laying down the 
 letter. " Then it has been Ramoo who has all this time 
 been in pursuit of the diamonds; and to think that my 
 uncle never even suspected him! " Then suddenly he 
 continued, " Now I understand why it was my life was 
 spared by those fellows. By Jove, this is astounding! " 
 Then he took up the letter again. 
 
 " Two of the Brahmins under me had observed, at a 
 festival the day before the bracelet was lost, a white 
 soldier staring at it with covetous eyes. One of them 
 was in charge of the temple on the night when it was 
 stolen, and on the day following he came to me, and 
 said, ' I desire to devote my life to the recovery of the 
 jewels of the god. Bondah will go with me; we will 
 return no more until we bring them back.' ' It is good,' 
 I said; ' the god must be appeased, or terrible misfortunes 
 may happen.' Then we held a solemn service in the 
 temple. The two men removed the caste marks from 
 their foreheads, prostrated themselves before the god, and 
 went out from amongst us as outcasts until the day of 
 their death. Two months later a messenger came from 
 the one who had spoken to me, saying that they had 
 found the man, but had for a long time had no oppor- 
 tunity of finding the bracelet. Then Bondah had met 
 him in a lonely place, and had attacked him. Bondah 
 had lost his life, but the soldier was, though sorely 
 
328 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 wounded, able to get back to his regiment. He had died, 
 but he had, the writer was convinced, passed the jewels 
 on to a comrade, whom he would watch. Then I saw that 
 one man was not sufficient for such a task. Then I, too, 
 the Chief Brahmin of the temple, saw that it was my 
 duty to go forth also. 
 
 " I laid the matter before the others, and they said, 
 ' You are right; it is you who, as the chief in the service 
 of the god, should bring back his jewels.' So again there 
 was a service, and I went forth as an outcast and a 
 wanderer, knowing that I must do many things that were 
 forbidden to my caste: that I must touch unclean things, 
 must eat forbidden food, and must take life if needs be. 
 You, sahib, cannot understand how terrible was the deg- 
 radation to me, who was of the purest blood of the 
 Brahmins. I had taken the most solemn vows to devote 
 my life to this. I knew that, whether successful or not, 
 although I might be forgiven my offense by the god, yet 
 that never again could I recover my caste, even though 
 the heaviest penances were performed. Henceforth, I 
 must stand alone in the world, without kindred, without 
 friends, without help, save such as the god might give me 
 in the search. 
 
 " I was rich. The greater part of my goods I gave to 
 the temple, and yet retained a considerable sum, for I 
 should need money to carry out my quest, and after I 
 had accomplished it 1 should hand over what remained 
 for the benefit of the poor. I should myself become a 
 fakir. I want you to understand, sahib, that henceforth 
 I had but one object in life, a supreme one, to accom- 
 plish, in which nothing must stand in my way, and that 
 what would be in others a crime was but a sacrifice on 
 my part, most acceptable to the god. I journeyed down 
 to the place where my comrade was, dressed as one of 
 the lowest class, even as a sweeper, and he and I strove 
 by all the means in our power to discover what this man 
 had done with the jewels. Night after night we crawled 
 into his tent. We searched his bed and his clothes. 
 With sharp rods we tried every inch of the soil, believing 
 that he had hidden the diamonds underground, but we 
 failedo 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 329 
 
 " Then my comrade said, ' I must give my life to find 
 out where he hides these things. I will watch night 
 after night hy the door of his tent, and if he comes out 
 I will stab him; it shall be a mortal wound, but I will 
 not kill him outright. Before he dies he will doubtless, 
 as the other did, pass the jewels on to some comrade, 
 and then it will be for you to follow him up.' ' It is 
 good,' I said. ' This man may have hidden them away 
 somewhere during the time they have marched through 
 the country. In spite of the watch you have kept he may 
 have said to himself, " I will return, though it be years 
 hence." Your plan is good/ I said. ' I envy you. 'Tis 
 better to die thus than to live in sin as we are doing.' 
 
 " That evening the man was stabbed, but an officer 
 running up killed my comrade. The soldier was taken 
 to the hospital, and I lay down beside the tent with my 
 eye to a slit that I had cut, and watched till morning. 
 
 " Then I took my broom and swept the ground. I 
 had not been hired as one of the camp sweepers, and so 
 could move about and sweep where I chose. No one ever 
 asked me any questions. The soldiers heeded me no more 
 than if I had been a dog, and, of course, supposed that 
 I was acting by the order of the head of the sweepers. 
 Presently I saw one of the servants of the hospital go 
 across to the tent of the officer who had killed my com- 
 rade. He came over and went into the hospital tent. I 
 felt sure that it was the wounded man who had sent for 
 him. He was in there some time. Presently a soldier 
 came out and went to the tent of the wounded man, 
 and returned bringing a musket. Then I said to myself, 
 ' The god has blinded us. He wills that we shall go 
 through many more toils before we regain the bracelet' 
 Doubtless the man had carried the bracelet in his musket 
 all the time, and we, blind that we were, had never 
 thought of it. 
 
 " Presently the officer came out again. I noticed that 
 as he did so he looked round on all sides as if to see if 
 he were watched. Then I knew that it was as I had 
 thought: the soldier had given the bracelet to him. At 
 this I was pleased; it would be far more easy to search 
 the tent of an officer than of a soldier, who sleeps sur- 
 
330 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 rounded by his comrades. I thought that there was no 
 hurry now; it would need but patience, and I should be 
 sure to find them. I had not calculated that he would 
 have better opportunities than the soldier for going 
 about, and that, doubtless, the soldier had warned him of 
 his danger. Two hours later the officer mounted his 
 horse and rode towards the camp of another regiment, a 
 mile and a quarter away. There was nothing in that; 
 but I watched for his return all that day and all that 
 night, and when he did not come back, I felt that he 
 was doing something to get rid of the diamonds. 
 
 " He was away three days, and when he returned I was 
 almost sure that he had not the diamonds about him. 
 As he had ridden off he had looked about just as he had 
 when he left the hospital: he was uneasy, just as if he 
 was watched; now he was uneasy no longer. Then I 
 knew that my search would be a long one, and might 
 fail altogether. I went away, and for three months I 
 prayed and fasted; then I returned. I bought different 
 clothes, I painted my forehead with another caste mark, 
 then I bought from the servant of an officer in another 
 regiment his papers of service: recommendations from 
 former masters. Then I went to the officer — you will 
 guess, sahib, that it was the Major, your uncle — and I 
 paid his servant to leave his service, and to present me 
 as a brother of his who had been accustomed to serve 
 white sahibs, and was, like himself, a good servant; so I 
 took his place. 
 
 " He was a good master, and I came to love him, 
 though I knew that I might yet have to kill him. You 
 have heard that I saved his life three times; I did so 
 partly because I loved him, but chiefly because his life 
 was most precious to me, for if he had died I should 
 have lost all clew to the bracelet. 1 had, of course, made 
 sure that he had not got them with him; over and over 
 again I searched every article in his possession. I ripped 
 open his saddle lest they might be sewn up in its stuffing. 
 All that could be done I did, until I was quite sure that 
 he had not got them. He, on his part, came to like me. 
 He thought that I was the most faithful of servants, and 
 after the last time I saved his life he took me with him 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 331 
 
 everywhere. He went down to Madras, and was married 
 there. I watched his every movement. After that he 
 went down frequently. Then a child was born, and six 
 months afterwards his wife died. 
 
 " The regiment was stationed at the fort. At that 
 time he was at many places — the governor's, the other 
 officer sahibs', the merchants', and others'. I could not 
 follow him, but I was sure by his manner that he had 
 not taken back the bracelet from whoever he had sent 
 it to. I knew him so well by this time that I should 
 have noticed any change in his manner in a moment. At 
 last the child went away in the charge of Mrs. Cunning- 
 ham. I bribed the child's ayah, and she searched Mrs. 
 Cunningham's boxes and every garment she had, and 
 found no small sealed parcel or box amongst them. 
 Three years more passed. By this time the Colonel 
 treated me more as a friend than as a servant. He said 
 one day, laughing, ' It is a long time since my things have 
 been turned topsy-turvy, Eamoo. I think the thieves 
 have come to the conclusion that I have not got what 
 they are looking for.' 'What is that, sahib?' I asked. 
 ' Some special jewels,' he said. ' They are extremely 
 valuable. But I have got them and a lot of other things 
 so safely stowed that no one will ever find them unless I 
 give them the clew.' ' But suppose you are killed, sahib/ 
 I said; ' your little daughter will never get the things.' 
 ' I have provided for that,' he answered. ' If I am killed 
 I have arranged that she shall know all about it either 
 when she comes to the age of eighteen or twenty-one.' 
 
 " A few weeks after that he was wounded very badly. 
 I nursed him night and day for weeks, and when he 
 came to England he brought me with him. As you 
 know, sahib, he died. When he was in London he went 
 to see Mrs. Cunningham and the child, and several times 
 to the office of the lawyer who attended your father's 
 funeral. Then he came down to your father, and I know 
 he had long and earnest conversations with him. I did 
 all I could to listen, but the Colonel always had the 
 windows and doors shut before he began to speak. I 
 could see that your father was troubled. Then the 
 Colonel died. After his death I could never find his 
 
332 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 snuffbox; he had carried it about with him for some 
 years; once or twice I had examined it, but it was too 
 small for the diamonds to be hidden in. I suppose that 
 he had given it to the sahib, your father, but as I could 
 never find it I guessed that there was some mystery 
 attached to it, though what I could not tell. 
 
 " Then your father took me down to Crowswood with 
 him, and Mrs. Cunningham and the little girl came 
 down. I was surprised to find that your father seemed 
 to be master of the estate, and that no one thought any- 
 thing of the child, whose name had been changed. I 
 spoke one day to Mrs. Cunningham about it; your father 
 seemed to me a just and good man, and I could not 
 believe that he was robbing his brother's daughter. Mrs. 
 Cunningham told me that the Colonel did not wish her 
 to be known as an heiress, and that he had left the estate 
 to his brother until she came of age. Your father was 
 as good a master as the Colonel had been. I watched 
 and watched, and once or twice I overheard him talking 
 to himself in the library, and discovered that your father 
 himself was altogether ignorant of the hiding-place of 
 the property that the Colonel had mentioned in his will. 
 I knew then that I should have to wait until the child 
 was either eighteen or twenty-one. 
 
 " It was a long time, but I had learnt to be patient. 
 I was not unhappy; I loved your father, I loved the 
 Colonel's little daughter, and I was very fond of you. 
 All these things were small to me in comparison to my 
 vow and the finding the jewels of the god, but they 
 shortened the years of waiting. Then a year before the 
 young mistress was eighteen came the shot through the 
 window. I did not know who had fired it, but I saw that 
 your father's life was in danger, and I said to myself, 
 ' He will tell the young sahib what he knows about the 
 bracelet.' After you had gone into the library I opened 
 the door quietly, and listened. I could hear much that 
 was said, but not all. I heard him say something about 
 a snuffbox, and some means of finding the lost things 
 being hidden in it, and that he had kept them all these 
 years in a secret hiding-place, which he described. You 
 were to search for the diamonds, and I guessed from that 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 333 
 
 that he did not know what he was to be told when the 
 young memsahib came of age, or perhaps when she was 
 eighteen. It was not until I had thought over what I 
 heard that I came to the conclusion that if I could find 
 the things he spoke of I might be able to find the jewels. 
 By that time your father had gone to bed. I was foolish 
 not to have been patient, but my blood boiled after 
 waiting for eighteen or nineteen years. The god seemed 
 to have sent me the chance, and it seemed to me that I 
 should take it at once. I knew that he generally slept 
 with his window open, and it seemed to me that it would 
 be easy to slip in there and to get those things from the 
 cabinet. I knew where the ladder was kept. I took a 
 file from the tool-chest and cut the chain." 
 
 Here Mark dropped the letter in horror. 
 
 " Good Heavens! " he exclaimed. " Then Bastow spoke 
 truly, and he was not my father's murderer! Never did 
 a single suspicion of Bamoo enter my head. This is 
 appalling; but I cannot read any more now. It is time 
 for me to go and dress for dinner." 
 
 "Is anything the matter with you, Mark?" Millicent 
 asked anxiously, as she met him in the drawing room; 
 " you look as white as a sheet." 
 
 " I have been reading Bamoo's letter, and he has told 
 me some things that have surprised and shocked me. I 
 will tell you about them after dinner, dear. It is a long 
 story, but you won't have to wait until Dick and the 
 Gregs are gone. They are interested in all that interests 
 us, and shall hear the letter read. No; I think I will ask 
 them and Dick to come in the morning. I should not 
 like anything to sadden the first evening of our coming 
 home." 
 
 " Then it is something sad." 
 
 " Yes, but it does not affect us, though it does affect 
 Bamoo. Now clear your brow, dear, and dismiss the 
 subject from your mind, else our guests will fancy that 
 our marriage has not been altogether so satisfactory as 
 they had hoped." 
 
 " As if they could think such a thing as that, Mark," 
 she said indignantly. " But there is the sound of wheels; 
 it is Mr. Chetwynd's gig." 
 
334 COLONEL THOBNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 The three visitors all came in together, having met at 
 the door. Mark, with a great effort, put aside the letter 
 from his mind, and a cheerful evening was spent. Thej 
 had much to tell of their travels, many questions to ask 
 about the parish and their mutual friends and the neigh- 
 borhood generally, and when they rose to go Mark said: 
 
 " Would you mind riding over again to-morrow morn- 
 ing, Dick? I have a letter to read to you that will 
 interest you greatly." 
 
 "Certainly. What time shall I be here?" 
 
 " Say at eleven o'clock. It is a long epistle, and will 
 take us an hour to get through; after that we can stroll 
 round, and, of course, you will stop to lunch. I should 
 be glad if you and Mrs. Greg can come over too," he 
 added, turning to the Eector ; " you will be much inter- 
 ested also in the matter." 
 
 The next day the party met in the library at the hour 
 named. 
 
 " I may tell you, Mr. Greg, that I specially asked you 
 and your wife here because this letter throws some light 
 on Authur Bastow's connection with my father's murder; 
 you were friends with his father, and I think you ought 
 to know. As to you, Dick, the letter will interest you 
 from beginning to end, and will surprise as much as it 
 will interest you." 
 
 "Even I don't know what it is, Mrs. Greg," Millicent 
 said. " I know it quite upset Mark yesterday, but he 
 said he would sooner I did not know anything about it 
 until to-day, as he did not want me to be saddened on 
 the first evening of our return home. Now, please go on, 
 Mark; you have said quite enough to excite us all." 
 
 Mark had read but a short distance when Dick Chet- 
 wynd exclaimed: 
 
 " Then Eamoo was at the bottom of that Indian busi- 
 ness, after all. I almost wonder you never suspected it, 
 Mark." 
 
 " Well, I hardly could do so," Mark said, " when my 
 uncle was so fond of him, and he had served him so faith- 
 fully." 
 
 As he approached the point at which he had laid down 
 the letter on the previous evening, Millicent's color faded. 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 335 
 
 Suddenly an exclamation of horror broke from her when, 
 he read the last line. 
 
 " Oh, Mark," she said, with quivering lips, " don't say 
 it was Kamoo. He always seemed so kind and good." 
 
 " It was here I stopped last night," he said, " but I fear 
 there can be no doubt about it. I must say that it is 
 evident from this letter that no thought of doing my 
 father harm was in his mind when he placed that ladder 
 against the window. Now I will go on." 
 
 The letter continued as follows: 
 
 " Having placed the ladder, I clambered to the window 
 and quietly entered the room. It was quite dark, but I 
 knew the place of every piece of furniture so well that I 
 was able to go without hesitation to the cabinet. Your 
 father was speaking very slowly and distinctly when he 
 told you how it was to be opened, and I was able to do 
 it easily, but I did not know that the back opened with 
 a sharp click, and the noise startled me and woke your 
 father. In an instant he was out of bed and seized me 
 by the throat. Now, he was a much stronger man that 
 I was. I struggled in vain. I felt that in a moment I 
 should become insensible; my vow and my duty to the 
 god flashed across me, and scarce knowing what I did, I 
 drew a little dagger I always carried, and struck blindly. 
 He fell, and I fell beside him. For a time I was insensi- 
 ble. When I recovered I was seized with the bitterest 
 remorse that I had killed one I loved, but I seemed to 
 hear the voice of the god saying, ' You have done well, 
 Eamoo. I am your great master, and you are bound to 
 my service.' 
 
 " I got up almost blindly, felt in the cabinet, and 
 found a coin and a piece of paper, and a feeling of exul- 
 tation came over me that, after nearly twenty years, I 
 should succeed in carrying out my vow and taking his 
 bracelet back to the god. I descended the ladder, crept 
 in the back door by which I had come out, went up to 
 my room, where I had kept a light burning, and examined 
 my treasures. Then I saw that all had been in vain. 
 They were doubtless a key to the mystery, but until a 
 clew was given they were absolutely useless. I sat for 
 hours staring at them. I would have gone back and 
 
336 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 
 
 replaced them in the cabinet and left all as it had been 
 before, but I dared not enter the room again. The next 
 day I heard you say that you suspected that the talk 
 with your father had been overheard, and that the man 
 who had earlier in the evening before shot at him had 
 returned, and while listening had heard something said 
 about the hiding-place, and thought that he would find 
 some sort of treasure there. I thought that in the talk 
 your father might have told you how to use these things, 
 though I had not caught it, and it was therefore impor- 
 tant that you should have them back again, so I went 
 into the room after the inquest was over, and placed the 
 things in their hiding-place again. 
 
 " Then, thinking it over, I determined to leave your 
 service. You would be trying to find the treasure, and I 
 must watch you, and this I could not do as long as I 
 was a house-servant; so I came up to London, and you 
 thought I had sailed for India, but I did not go. I hired 
 four Lascars, men of my own religion, and paid them to 
 watch every movement that you made, to see where you 
 visited and where you went. I paid them well, and they 
 served me well; it was so that I was able to bring those 
 men to your help when but for that you would have lost 
 your life. It was for this to some extent that I had you 
 followed; for I soon found out that you were on the 
 search for the man who had fired through the window, 
 and who you believed had killed your father, rather than 
 for the jewels. I knew that you might run into danger, 
 and partly because I loved you, and partly because it was 
 possible that it would be essential for that coin and piece 
 of paper to be produced in order that the treasure might 
 be obtained, I kept guard over you. 
 
 " When the 18th of iiugust approached we were all 
 on the watch. I felt sure that you would take every 
 possible precaution while you had the bracelet in your 
 possession. We knew who were your principal friends, 
 the banker's son and Mr. Chetwynd. On the 18th of 
 August everything went on as usual. On the following 
 day the banker's son came to you, and as soon as he left 
 you you went to the lawyer's, and afterwards to the 
 banker's. I felt sure now that it was at that bank that 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRETS 337 
 
 the jewels had been placed, and that you had been wait- 
 ing till the young memsahib's birthday for the news 
 that they might be taken out; then you went to Mr. 
 Chetwynd's, and he went to the bank. I had no doubt 
 that he was to take them out for you, and after that one 
 of the men never took his eyes off him when he was 
 outside of his house. Afterwards you went to the place 
 where the men used to fight, and the man who was 
 watching you went in, and had beer, and saw you talking 
 with the big man you used to fight with, in the parlor 
 behind the bar. The watcher went out to follow you, 
 but left another to watch this man. We found that both 
 Mr. Chetwynd and he went to a shipping office in Tower 
 Street, and we then guessed that you intended to take the 
 bracelet at once across the sea. 
 
 " I went myself and found out that a vessel was sailing 
 in two days to Amsterdam. I took a passage for a man 
 in' the cheap cabin, and asked to look at the list of 
 passengers, as I believe that some friend would be sailing 
 by her; there were two men's names down together in 
 one handwriting among the first-class passengers, and I 
 guessed that these were you and Mr. Chetwynd. I also 
 saw the name of the big man, which I had heard long 
 before, down in the list of passengers, and another name 
 next to his in the same handwriting. I did not know 
 his name, but guessed that it was another of the fight- 
 ing men, and that they were going to look after you 
 until you had got rid of the diamonds. On the morning 
 that she was to sail one of the Lascars was on board; I 
 thought it possible that in order to throw anyone who 
 might be following you off your scent you might at the 
 last moment go ashore, and that Mr. Chetwynd might 
 take the diamonds over, so I watched, and saw you on 
 the deck with your friend. 
 
 " I and the other three Lascars then took passage that 
 evening in a craft for Rotterdam, and got to Amsterdam 
 two days before your ship arrived; we went to different 
 houses, and going separately into the worst parts of the 
 town, soon found a man who kept a gambling den, and 
 who was a man who could be trusted. I offered him a 
 thousand francs to collect twenty-five men, who were to 
 
338 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET 
 
 be paid a hundred francs each, and to be ready, if your 
 ship arrived after dark, to attack two passengers I would 
 point out to them. I did not want you to be hurt, so bar- 
 gained that all knives were to be left behind, and that 
 he was to supply the men only with clubs. If the ship 
 came in in daylight you were to be attacked the first 
 time you went out after dark. You know how that was 
 carried out. You had two more men with you than I 
 had expected; but I thought that with a sudden rush you 
 might all be separated. You know the rest. The mo- 
 ment you were knocked down I and three others 
 carried you to a boat. It had been lying near the stairs, 
 and we took you off to the barge in which I had arranged 
 you should be taken to Eotterdam. 
 
 " We told them that you were a drunken man who had 
 been stunned in a fight in a public house. As soon as 
 we were off, I searched you and found the diamonds. 
 Then, as you know, we put you ashore. We all crossed 
 to England that night. Two days later I sailed in this 
 ship, the Brahmapootra. I am not afraid of telling you 
 this, because I know that the diamonds will not shine on 
 the god's arm until all fear of search and inquiry are over. 
 My task will be done when I hand them over to the man 
 who holds the office I once held; then I shall bear the 
 penances imposed on me for having broken my caste in 
 every way, and for having taken life, and for the rest of 
 my days I shall wander as a fakir through India. I shall 
 be supported by the knowledge that I have done my duty 
 to my god, and have sacrificed all in his service, but it 
 will ever be a grief to me that in so doing it was neces- 
 sary to sacrifice the life of one who had ever shown me 
 kindness. You may wonder why I have written this, but 
 I felt that I must own the truth to you, and that you 
 should know that if in the course of my duty to the god it 
 was my misfortune to slay your father, I have twice saved 
 your life, just as three times I saved that of the Colonel 
 sahib, your uncle." 
 
 There was silence for some little time after Mark had 
 finished reading. 
 
 " It is a strange story indeed," Mr. Greg said, " but it 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 339 
 
 is not for us to judge the man. He has acted according 
 to his lights, and none can do more. He sacrificed him- 
 self and his life solely to the service of his god, well know- 
 ing that even were he successful, his reward would he 
 penance and suffering, and a life of what cannot but be 
 misery to a man brought up, as he has been, to consider 
 himself of the highest and holiest rank of the people. I 
 think, Mark, we need neither say nor think anything 
 harshly of him." 
 
 " Certainly not," Mark agreed. " I can understand 
 that according to his view of the matter anything that 
 stood between him and his goal was but an obstacle to be 
 swept aside; assuredly there was no premeditation in the 
 killing of my father. I have no doubt that the man was 
 attached to him, and that he killed him not to save his 
 own life, but in order that his mission might be carried 
 out." 
 
 " Quite so, Mark; it was done in the same spirit, if I 
 may say so, that Abraham would have sacrificed his son 
 at the order of his God. What years of devotion that 
 man has passed through! Accustomed, as you see, to a 
 lofty position, to the respect and veneration of those 
 around him, he became a servant, and performed duties 
 that were in his opinion not only humiliating, but 
 polluting and destructive to his caste, and which rendered 
 him an outcast even among the lowest of his people. Do 
 you not think so, Mrs. Thorndyke? " 
 
 Millicent, who was crying quietly, looked up. 
 
 " I can only think of him as the man who twice saved 
 Mark's life," she said. 
 
 " I understand why you have wished to tell me this 
 story," the Rector went on to Mark. " You wish me to 
 know that Arthur Bastow did not add this to his other 
 crimes; that he was spared from being the murderer of 
 your father, but from no want of will on his part; and, 
 as we know, he killed many others, the last but an hour 
 or two before he put an end to his own life; still I am 
 glad that this terrible crime is not his. It seemed to be 
 so revolting and unnatural. It was the Squire's father 
 who had given the living to his father, and the Squire 
 himself had been his friend in the greatest of his trials, 
 
340 COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET: 
 
 and had given him a shelter and a home in his old age. 
 I am glad, at least, that the man, evil as he was, was 
 spared this last crime of the grossest ingratitude." 
 
 " Well, Mark," Dick Chetwynd said cheerfully, in order 
 to turn the subject, " I am heartily glad that we have 
 got to the bottom of this jewel mystery. I have been 
 puzzling over it all the time that you have been away, 
 and I have never been able to understand how, in spite 
 of the precautions that we took, they should have found 
 out that the jewels were at Cotter's, and that you had 
 them on board with you, and, above all, why they spared 
 your life when they could so easily and safely have put 
 you out of the way. It is certainly strange that while 
 you were thinking over everything connected with the 
 jewels, the idea that Eamoo was the leading spirit in the 
 whole business should never once have occurred to you." 
 
 A month later, when Mark went up to town, he called 
 at Leadenhall Street. 
 
 " Of course, you have not heard of the arrival of the 
 Brahmapootra at Madras yet. May I ask when she left 
 the Cape?" 
 
 " She never left the Cape, sir," the clerk replied, " and 
 there are very grave fears for her safety. She spoke the 
 Surinam and gave her mails for England when the latter 
 was eight days out from the Cape, and the Surinam 
 reported that a day later she encountered a terrible gale, 
 lost several spars, and narrowly escaped being blown on- 
 to the African coast. Since then we have had no news 
 of the Brahmapootra. A number of Indiamen have ar- 
 rived since; the latest came in only yesterday, and up to 
 the time when she left no news had been received of the 
 ship. Three small craft had been sent up the coast 
 weeks before to make inquiries for her, but had returned 
 without being able to obtain any intelligence, and had 
 seen no wreckage on the coast, although they had gone 
 several hundred miles beyond where she had spoken the 
 Surinam,, therefore there can be little doubt that she 
 foundered with all hands during the gale. You had no 
 near relatives on board, I hope, sir? " 
 
 " No near relatives, but there was one on board in 
 whom I was greatly interested. Here is my card; I 
 
COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET. 341 
 
 should feel greatly obliged if you would write me a line 
 should you hear anything of her." 
 
 " I will do so, sir. We have had innumerable inquiries 
 from friends and relatives of those on board, and 
 although of late we have been obliged to say that there 
 can no longer be any hope that she will ever be heard of, 
 not a day passes but many persons still come in to 
 inquire." 
 
 No letter ever came to Mark; no news was ever heard 
 of the Brahmapootra. Eamoo's sacrifice was in vain, and 
 never again did the diamond bracelet glisten on the arm 
 of the idol in the unknown temple. 
 
 THB HND.