The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime - Michael Sims [45]
“You would do it under the hour?”
“Yes, certainly under the hour.”
“Then you must have reached there about four o’clock?”
“It is very likely, sir.”
The plan of the tall American was now perfectly clear to me, and it comprised nothing that was contrary to law. He had evidently placed his luggage on board the steam launch in the morning. The handbag had contained various materials which would enable him to disguise himself, and this bag he had probably left in some shop down the side street, or else someone was waiting with it for him. The giving of the treasure to another man was not so risky as it had at first appeared, because he instantly followed that man, who was probably his confidential servant. Despite the windings of the river, there was ample time for the launch to reach Havre before the American steamer sailed on Saturday morning. I surmised it was his intention to come alongside of the steamer before she left her berth in Havre harbour, and thus transfer himself and his belongings unperceived by anyone on watch at the land side of the liner. All this, of course, was perfectly justifiable, and was, in truth, a well-laid scheme for escaping observation. His only danger of being tracked was when he got into the cab. Once away from the neighbourhood of the Boulevard des Italiens, he was reasonably sure to evade pursuit, and the five minutes which his friend with the pistols had won for him gave him just about the time he needed to get as far as the Place Madeline, and after that everything was easy. Yet if it had not been for this five minutes secured by coercion, I should not have had the slightest excuse for arresting him. But he was accessory after the act in that piece of illegality—in fact, it was absolutely certain that he had been accessory before the act, and guilty of conspiracy with the man who had presented firearms to the auctioneer’s audience, and who had interfered with an officer in the discharge of his duty by threatening me and my men. So I was now legally in the right if I arrested every person on board that steam launch.
With a map of the river before me, I proceeded to make some calculations. It was now nearly ten o’clock at night. The launch had had six hours to go at its utmost speed. It was doubtful if so small a vessel could make ten miles an hour, even with the current in its favour, which is rather sluggish because of the locks and the level country.
Sixty miles would place her beyond Meulan, which is fifty-eight miles from the Pont Royal, and, or course, a lesser distance from the Pont de Neuilly. But the navigation of the river is difficult at all times, and almost impossible after dark. There were chances of the boat running aground, and then there was the inevitable delay at the locks. So I estimated that the launch could not yet have reached Meulan, which was less than twenty-five miles from Paris by rail. Looking up the time-table, I saw there were still two trains to Meulan—the next at 10.25, which reached Meulan at 11.40. I had time to reach St. Lazarus station and there do some telegraphing before the train left.
With three of my assistants, I got into a cab and drove to the station, sending one of my men to hold the train while I went into the telegraph-office, cleared the wires, and got into communication with the lock-master at Meulan. He replied that no steam-launch had passed down since an hour before sunset. I then instructed him to allow the yacht to enter the lock, close the upper gate, let half of the water out, and hold the vessel there until I came. I also ordered the local Meulan police to send enough men to the lock to enforce this command. Lastly, I sent messages all along the river asking the police to report to me on the train passage of the steam-launch.
The 10.25 is a slow train, stopping at every station. However, every drawback has its compensations, and these stoppages enabled me to receive and to send telegraphic messages. I was quite well aware that I might be on a fool’s errand in going to Meulan. The yacht might turn before it had steamed