The Black Box Part 43

Professor, what about you?"

"I shall accompany you," the Professor declared. "The discomforts of travelling without luggage are nothing compared with the importance of discovering this human fiend."

"Luggage--pshaw!" Laura exclaimed. "Who cares about that?"

"And nothing," Lenora declared firmly, as she caught at Quest's arm, "would keep me away."

"I'll telephone to Scotland Yard, in case they care to send a man down,"

Quest decided. "We must remember, though," he reminded them, "that it will very likely be a wild-goose chase."

"It won't be the first," Laura observed grimly, "but Craig's on board that s.h.i.+p all right."...

They caught a train to Southampton, where they were joined by a man from Scotland Yard. The little party drove as quickly as possible to the docks.

"Where does the _Barton_ start from?" Quest asked the pier-master.

The man pointed a little way down the harbor.

"She's not in dock, sir," he said. "She's lying out yonder. You'll barely catch her, I'm afraid," he added, glancing at the clock.

They hurried to the edge of the quay.

"Look here," Quest cried, raising his voice, "I'll give a ten pound note to any one who gets me out to the _Barton_ before she sails."

The little party were almost thrown into a tug, and in a few minutes they were skimming across the smooth water. Just as they reached the steamer, however, she began to move.

"Run up alongside," Quest ordered.

"She won't stop, sir," the Captain of the tug replied doubtfully. "She is an hour late, as it is."

"Do as I tell you," Quest insisted.

They raced along by the side of the great steamer. An officer came to the rail and shouted down to them.

"What do you want?"

"The Captain," Quest replied.

The Captain came down from the bridge, where he had been conferring with the pilot.

"Keep away from the side there," he shouted. "Who are you?"

"We are in search of a desperate criminal whom we believe to be on board your steamer," Quest explained. "Please take us on board."

The Captain shook his head.

"Are you from Scotland Yard?" he asked. "Have you got your warrant?"

"We are from America," Quest answered, "but we've got a Scotland Yard man with us, and a warrant, right enough."

"Any extradition papers?"

"No time to get them yet," Quest replied, "but the man's wanted for murder."

"Are you from the New York police?"

Quest shook his head.

"I am a private detective," he announced. "I am working in conjunction with the New York Police."

The Captain shook his head.

"I am over an hour late," he said, "and it's costing me fifty pounds a minute. If I take you on board, you'll have to come right along with me, unless you find the fellow before we've left your tug behind."

Quest turned around.

"Will you risk it?" he asked.

"Yes!" they all replied.

"We're coming, Captain," Quest decided.

A rope ladder was let down. The steamer began to slow.

"Can you girls manage it?" Quest asked doubtfully.

Laura smiled.

"I should say so," she replied. "I can go up that with only one arm. You watch me!"

They cheered her on board the steamer as she hobbled up. The others followed. The tug, the crew of which had been already well paid, raced along by the side. The Captain spoke once more to the pilot and came down from the bridge.

"I'm forced to go full speed ahead to cross the bar," he told Quest. "I'm sorry, but the tide's just on the turn."

They looked at one another a little blankly.

The Professor, however, beamed upon them all.

"I have always understood," he said, "that Port Said is a most interesting place."

CHAPTER XI

THE s.h.i.+P OF HORROR

Quest leaned a little forward and gazed down the line of steamer chairs.