afternoon air express Scott the same evening was warmly greeted by Regnier. He rapidly explained his visit. Regnier looked grave.

“I have heard of the man,” he said, “but have never seen him, I don’t think in a case like this you can do better than Manton. He is very well up in all these scientific things; they seem to be a perfect craze with him.”

An hour later, Regnier, Scott, Dick Manton, Yvette, and Jules were closely discussing the problem in Manton’s rooms.

“We have got to find that sailor,” was Dick’s verdict, “and luck is going to have a good deal to do with it. I suppose Simmons is on the look out for him?”

“Yes,” replied Scott, “I wired him at once.”

“Do you think Gronvold and the sailor have quarrelled?” put in Yvette.

“I think not,” was Scott’s reply. “If they had there seems no reason for the man’s alarm. I think he calculated on going back to him. That was Simmons’ view, too.”

Dick, who had been carefully studying a map, looked up.

“Just look here,” he said, “you could hide an army in this place.”

The map was in contour and gave a vivid impression of the wild and desolate country, a broken mass of hills and lakes, stretching north and east from Tonstad.

“Suppose Gronvold is there,” said Dick, “he could hide anything he wanted to. I don’t think he would have travelled far from its base to blow up the hill—that was probably experimental. My idea is that he has established his laboratory somewhere in the hills about there. There is no population and little or no traffic through the district. He must send to one of the towns for supplies, and Christiansand is the most likely. I should guess that the sailor had come there for that purpose and may come again.”

“He did not leave the town by boat,” declared Scott. “Simmons made the most careful inquiries on all the boats in the harbour and no one of his description was seen.”

Three tourists a week later were lodged in a comfortable hotel in the Dronningens Gade, one of the principal streets in the busy port of Christiansand. They were Yvette, Jules, and Scott. Dick had flown the Mohawk direct to the wild district north-east of Tonstad, and with the help of a light tent had 

 Prev. P 66/117 next