CHAPTER VII.
THE CHEMIST'S ROCK.
By the time we gave up our hunt for Sholto that night and sawHilderman into the _Baltimore II._ at the landing-stage, the harvestmoon had splashed the mountain side with patches of silver in recklessprofusion. But we were in no mood for aesthetics. We applied themoonlight to more practical purposes.
"Show me the river, Mr. Ewart," said Garnesk, as we turned away fromthe shore. Accordingly I took him up stream till we came to Dead Man'sPool.
"What do you make of things now?" I asked, as we walked along.
"I can't make anything of the stealing of a dog except that someonecoveted it and has now got it. Can you?"
"No," I answered thoughtfully, "I can't. But it's an extraordinarycoincidence, at the least; and who on earth could have stolen him? Yousee, no one round here would dream of taking anything that belonged toMiss McLeod. And, though Sholto is well enough bred, he's never beenin a show, and has no reputation. I can't make it out."
"I'm very sorry it happened just now," said the oculist. "I was inhopes that by experimenting on the animal I could cure the girl. Butat any rate that is beyond grieving about now. Is this the place?"
"Yes," I said, "this is Dead Man's Pool. That dim white shape there isthe Chemist's Rock. It was there that Miss McLeod lost her sight, andhere that the General had his extraordinary experience. It looksinnocent and peaceful enough," I added, with a sigh.
"The General was very lucky--very lucky indeed!" murmured mycompanion.
"Why?" I asked.
"He was down here looking at the rock, and he saw some sort of vision;Miss McLeod was up at the rock looking down at the pool, and she losther sight. The General might have been looking this way instead ofthat, in which case we might have had another case on our hands."
"Then you think the two adventures are different aspects of the samething? If only we knew where Sholto was it might give us even more togo on."
"Have you any tobacco?" he asked abruptly. "I've got a pipe, but Ileft my tobacco in my room."
We were in evening dress, and my pouch and pipe were in the house; soI left him there while I ran in to fetch them. When I returned he wasnowhere to be seen, and for a moment I half suspected some newtragedy; but as I looked round I caught the gleam of the moonlight onhis shirt-front. I found him kneeling on the Chemist's Rock, lookingout to sea.
"Many thanks, Mr. Ewart," he said, as he handed me back my pouch andtook the light I offered him. "Ah! I'm glad to see you smoke realtobacco. By the way," he added, "have you a friend--a real friend--youcan trust?"
"I have, thank God!" I replied fervently. "Why?"
"I should like you to send for him. Do anything you can to get himhere at once. Go and drag him here, if you like--only get him here."
"But why this urgency?" I asked again. "I admit that we have some veryhorrible natural phenomena to deal with; but, apart from the fact thatsome wretched poacher has stolen a dog, we have no human element tofear. I don't see how he can help, and he might run a risk himself."
"Never mind--fetch him or send for him. If you could have seenyourself start when you returned to the pool yonder to find memissing, you would realise that your nervous system would be thebetter for a little congenial companionship. Frankly, Mr. Ewart, Idon't like the idea of you being left alone here during the next fewdays with a blind girl and an old man--if you'll pardon me for beingso blunt."
"But you'll be here," I said; "and I hope you will have something tosay to us that will put nerves out of the question when you haveexamined Myra."
Garnesk rose to his feet and laid a friendly hand on my arm.
"As soon as I've seen what this place looks like at a quarter-pastfour to a quarter-past five in the afternoon I shall leave you."
"But--good heavens, man!" I cried, aghast, "you won't leave us likethat. We hoped for so much from your visit. You can't realise, man,what it may mean to--to us all! You see----"
"My dear chap," said my companion, cutting me short with a laugh, "itis just because I do realise that my presence here may be dangerous toMiss McLeod that I propose to leave."
"Dangerous to her?" I gasped. "What on earth do you mean now?" Thewhole world seemed to have taken leave of its senses, and I mentallyvowed that I should wire for Dennis first thing in the morning.
"I say that because her dog has been drugged and taken away."
"But some fool of a poacher was responsible for that!" I cried.
My companion looked at me thoughtfully as he puffed at his pipe.
"I was the cause of the dog's disappearance," he said quietly.
"I see what you're driving at," I said. "You pretended to steal thedog because you were afraid Myra would make overwhelming objections toyour vivisecting him, or whatever you want to do. Of course, now I seeyou would be the only person about Invermalluch Lodge likely to havechloroform. But even then I don't see what you mean by saying thatyour presence here would be dangerous to Miss McLeod."
"That's a very ingenious construction to put on my words, my dearfellow," he said; "but in my mind I was relying on you to overcome mypatient's objections to any experiments that might be deemed advisableon her dog. I meant something much more serious than that. I haveknown you only a few hours, Mr. Ewart; but nobody need tell me you areanything of a fool, unless he wants a very flat contradiction. You arelooking at this affair from a personal point of view--and no wonder,either. But if you were not so worried about your _fiancee_ your brainwould have grasped my point at once. That is why I want you to sendfor a friend."
"I will," I promised solemnly. "Now tell me--what did you mean?"
"When I said I was the cause of the dog's disappearance, I meant thatif I hadn't arrived on the scene the dog would never have beentouched. The dog was taken by someone who knew he was blind, who knewthat I would experiment on him, and who was determined to get therefirst."
"But," I exclaimed, "that would be carrying professional jealousy abit too far--if that's what you mean!"
"It would be carrying it so far that we can rule it out of court," heanswered. "So that's what I don't mean. Let's go back and analyse theoccurrence. I say the dog was not stolen by poachers, because of thechloroform; you said the same yourself. I say that the thief knew thedog was blind, because he knew he was in a darkened room above thecoach-house, and he stole him from there. A poacher would have gone tothe kennel, and found it empty--and that would have been the end ofthat. But the man who knew the dog was in a special room must haveknown why he was there; and it seems to me that the man who steals ablind dog steals him because, for some reason or other, he wants ablind dog--that very one, probably. Have you got me?"
"Yes," I said, "I follow you so far. Go on." And I was surprised tofind how relieved I was at this suggested complication. I felt that ifwe could only attribute this amazing week of mysteries to some humanagent I should be able to grapple with it.
"Now I come to my main point," Garnesk continued, "and it's this: Theman who wanted Sholto because he was blind wanted him to experimenton. But no professional man would do a thing like that, even supposingthere to be one about. That motive again is ruled out of court. Thereremains one possible solution----"
"Well?" I asked breathlessly, for even now I failed to grasp theconclusion my scientific companion could be coming to. "Go on!"
"If this thief did not want Sholto to experiment on himself, he stolethe dog in order to prevent me from experimenting on him."
I laughed aloud from sheer excitement and the relief of finding sometangible thing to go on, for the oculist's argument struck me as verynearly perfect.
"You ought to be at Scotland Yard," I said. "You seem to me to havehit the nail on the head."
"The two callings are very closely allied," he said modestly."Detectives deal with murderers and thieves, and I with nerves andtissues. It is all a question of diagnosis."
"I must say I think you've diagnosed this case very well, Mr.Garnesk," I said, "though we are just at the beginning of o
ur troublesif what you suppose is correct."
"I can't think of any other solution," he answered thoughtfully; "andwe are, as you say, just at the beginning of our troubles. The firstthing to do is----"
"To find the man who stole the dog," I cut in.
"To find the man who knew the dog was blind," he corrected. "By thatmeans we may come to the man who stole the dog; then we may get hisreason from his own lips, if we are exceptionally lucky. But I fancy Ican supply his motive, failing a full confession."
"You can?" I cried. "Let's hear it."
"You've thought of one yourself, of course?" he asked.
"The only motive I can think of is too fantastic altogether. It isweak enough to presuppose that someone has a grievance against MissMcLeod or the General, and that someone took advantage of theextraordinary circumstances to steal Sholto, and if possible preventMyra getting her sight back. Oh, it's too ridiculous!"
"We have to remember," my companion suggested, "that our unknownquantity not only knew that the dog was blind, but also knew that Iwas coming or had arrived, and would probably experiment on the beast.It argues a very terrible urgency that the animal disappeared withinan hour or two of my arrival. From all that I deduce what seems to methe only possible motive. The dog was stolen by the man who made MissMcLeod blind."
"_Made_ her blind!" I cried. "You don't seriously mean that you thinksomeone--some fiend of hell--deliberately blinded her?"
"Not deliberately," my companion replied. "But I believe it wasthrough some human agency that she was blinded. I think some person orpersons were anxious that Miss McLeod should remain blind, in case weshould, in the process of recovering her sight, hit upon the cause ofher losing it."
In silence I sat for a few moments, thinking over this extraordinarynew outlook. I must certainly wire for Dennis in the morning.
"Mr. Garnesk," I said presently, "you are bringing a very terriblecharge against some human monster whom we have yet to discover. But Imust admit that you seem to have logic on your side. It remains forme to discover who these people are--if there are more than one."
"Yes," he mused; "that is what we must discover."
"We!" I exclaimed. "Then you're not going away?"
"Yes," he said. "I think it would be fairer to you all if I left you.I think my arrival has done some good--my departure may do more. But Iassure you, Mr. Ewart, I shall not give up this case till Miss McLeodrecovers her sight. I give you my hand on that."
I shook hands with him warmly.
"Thank you," I said, as I noticed the eager look on his keen, handsomeface. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. To-morrow I hope I shallfind the man who knew Sholto was blind."
"I only know of one outside the General's household," he answered.
"But I don't even know that!" I cried, forgetting Dennis for themoment. As for Olvery, he had gone clean out of my mind. "Who do youmean?"
"The American," said my companion.
"Hilderman!" I exclaimed. "Surely you must be mistaken. Why, he wasabsolutely astonished when we told him. He can't have known."
"Still," Garnesk insisted, "I felt sure he knew. I suspected somethingabout him, but I was wrong to do that, quite wrong; I admit that now.I couldn't at first see why he pretended he hadn't heard that Sholtowas blind. You may have noticed that I tried to give him theimpression that I had examined Miss McLeod and come to the conclusionthat I could do nothing. I confess I did that to see how he took it.But I was on a wrong scent altogether. He knew about the dog, that wasobvious, but it was also obvious that he hadn't been told from anofficial source, so to speak. He kept fishing for information. Hebrought up the dog several times, each time with a query mark in hisvoice--as you might say. He remarked that the _last_ time he saw MissMcLeod she had her beautiful dog with her. That made me suspicious,because from what you told me she always had her dog with her. Then hesaid her dog must be feeling it very keenly, you remember. I tried himwith my pessimistic conclusions to see how he took it. You see, assoon as I saw the dog I put contagious disease out of the question.Natural forces unguided seemed impossible, but natural forces of somenature that we can't yet understand seemed probable. Still I was wrongto suspect Hilderman, quite wrong. Besides he couldn't possibly havestolen the dog."
"I'm glad you feel you were wrong there," I said, "because I ratherlike the man. I shouldn't care to have to suspect him."
"Don't suspect him, whatever you do," said the oculist earnestly."Whatever you do, don't do that. He might be very useful. Make afriend of him. You'll want all your friends."
He rose and stretched his legs, and I followed suit. We stood for amoment on the Chemist's Rock and gazed up the river, over the top ofthe falls, into the silver and purple symphony of a highland night.Presently my companion turned and took my arm.
"I've seen all I want to see," he said as he began to lead me down tothe pool again. "They'll wonder what has become of us. And as I'veseen enough for one night, let's get back to the house."
"It's a wonderful view at any time of the day or night," I agreed, andI sighed as I thought of poor Myra.
"It must be," said Garnesk absently, picking his way across the rocks."It must be a magnificent view. I haven't noticed it; you must bringme here to-morrow."
The Mystery of the Green Ray Page 7
