TWO GREAT MEN MEET
"Gone!" Lady Agatha, who had emerged from her stateroom, turned pale and caught at her heart.
They rushed on deck.The young Doctor was right; the box, which had stood on the larboard side of the cabin, had disappeared.
"It might have been blown into the canal during the storm," suggested the Rev.Mr.Calthrop.All of the crew of the Jasper B.knew Lady Agatha's story, and were aware of the importance of the box.
"It was on the lee side of the cabin," objected Dr.Farnsworth, "and while it might have been blown flat to the deck, in spite of its protected position, it would scarcely have been picked up by the wind again and wafted over the port bulwarks.""If you was to ask me," said Cap'n Abernethy, who had joined in the discussion, "I'd give it as MY opinion it's a good riddance of bad rubbish." "Rubbish?" said Miss Pringle."Rubbish, indeed!I am confidentthat that box contained my plum preserves!""It has been stolen!" cried Cleggett, with conviction."Fool that I was, not to have taken it into the cabin!""But, if you had, you know," said Lady Agatha, "one would scarcely have cared to stay in there with it.""Loge has outgeneraled me," murmured Cleggett, well-nigh frantic with self-reproach."While he made the attack in front, he sent some of his men to the rear of the vessel and it was quietly made off with while we were fighting." Had the disappearance of the box concerned himself alone Cleggett's sense of disaster might have been less poignant.But the thought that his own carelessness had enabled the enemy to get possessionof a thing likely to involve Lady Agatha in further trouble was nearly insupportable.He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands in impotent rage.
"No doubt Loge caught sight of it during the early part of the skirmish, by a flash of lightning," said Dr.Farnsworth, "and acted as you suggest, Mr.Cleggett.But does he believe it to be the box which contains the evidence against him? Or can he, by any chance, be aware of its real contents?""No matter which," groaned Cleggett, "no matter which!For when he opens it, he will learn what is in it.Don't you see that he has us now? If he offers to trade it back to us for the other oblong box, how can I refuse? If we have his secret, Loge has ours!"But Dr.Farnsworth was not listening.He had suddenly leaned over the port rail and was staring down the canal.The others followed his gaze.
The house boat Annabel Lee, they perceived, had got under weigh, and was slowly approaching the Jasper B.in the moonlight.They watched her gradual approach in silence.She stopped within a few yards of the Jasper B., and a voice which Cleggett recognized as that of Wilton Barnstable, the great detective, sang out:
"Jasper B., ahoy!"
"Aye, aye!" shouted Cleggett."Is Mr.Cleggett on board?" "He is speaking.""Mr.Cleggett, have you lost anything from your canal boat?"Cleggett did not answer, and for a moment he did not move.Then, tightening his sword belt, and cocking his hat a trifle, he climbed over the starboard rail and walked along the bank of the canal a few yards until he was opposite the Annabel Lee.The great detective, on his part, also stepped ashore.They stood and faced each other in the moonlight, silently, and their followers, also in silence, gathered in the bows of the respective vessels and watched them.
Finally, Cleggett, with one hand on his hip, and standing with his feet wide apart, said very incisively:
"Sir, the Jasper B.is NOT a canal boat.""Eh?"Wilton Barnstable started at the emphasis."The Jasper B.," pursued Cleggett, staring steadily at Wilton Barnstable, "is a schooner.""Ah!" said the other."Indeed?"
"A schooner," repeated Cleggett, "indeed, sir! Indeed, sir, a schooner!" There was another silence, in which neither man would look aside; they held each other with their eyes; the nervous strain communicated itself to the crews of the two vessels.At last, however, the detective, although he did not lower his gaze, and although he strove to give his new attitude an effect of ease and jauntiness by twisting the end of hismustache as he spoke, said to Cleggett:
"A schooner, then, Mr.Cleggett, a schooner!No offense, I hope?" "None at all," said Cleggett, heartily enough, now that the point hadbeen established.And the tension relaxed on both ships.
"You have lost an oblong box, Mr.Cleggett." The great detective affirmed it rather than interrogated.
"How did you know that?"
The other laughed."We know a great many things--it is our business to know things," he said.Then he dropped his voice to a whisper, and said rapidly, "Mr.Cleggett, do you know who I am?" Before Cleggett could reply he continued, "Brace yourself--do not make an outcry when I tell you who I am.I am Wilton Barnstable.""I knew you," said Cleggett.The other appeared disappointed for a moment.And then he inquired anxiously, "How did you know me?""Why, from your pictures in the magazines," said Cleggett.
