"
"What brought him here to-night?"
"He came to find the girl Renie."
"Did you expect him?"
"Yes; Denman sent word to look out for him; our captain knew
he would be coming to visit the cabin of old Tom Pearce."
"Who could have murdered Pearce?"
"That's the mystery. I learned to-night that the girl had not
been seen on the beach for a number of days; whoever killed
old Pearce carried off the girl."
"Sol Burton had a grudge against Tom Pearce and, his
daughter."
"Yes, but Burton was away on the 'Nancy.' He had nothing to
do with it."
"Do you suspect anyone?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Well. I'm not giving out my suspicions; but we've made a
blunder in letting that fellow get away tonight; but it's all
up now unless some other of the games against him work out all
right."
"I tell you we can run over and catch him on the mainland."
"Do you think so?"
"I do."
"Well, there's where your head ain't level. We will never
catch him now that he has got away from the coast."
The men walked away and the detective fell to a big scheme.
Quick as lightning he changed his appearance, worked a perfect
transformation, and strolled down toward Rigby's, the old
resort, of the gang before the storm of adversity set in over
them.
Rigby was as deeply interested in the success of the smuggling
business as any man connected with it. When trade was good he
had plenty of money and did a large business; but when it was
bad his business decreased proportionately; up to the time of
the arrest of the crew off the "Nancy" Rigby had been a
passive man as far as the illicit traffic event, but when Ike
Denman was in jail he sent for Rigby, and the man became an
active partisan.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179