Wallace of the Secret Service by Alexander Wilson Page A

I’ll go through the list, for it will mean recommencing the inquiry from a different angle.’
    A few minutes before lunch the superintendent of police arrived and was taken to a small room, where Sir Leonard was awaiting him.
    ‘Three dhows only sailed from Gibraltar on the night of the ball, sir,’ he announced, ‘and one from Algeciras. There was nothing suspicious about any of them.’
    ‘Their destination?’
    ‘All for Tangier.’
    ‘What was their trade?’
    Before the superintendent could reply, there came a knock on the door. A servant entered to inform the police officer that a sergeant wished to see him urgently.
    ‘Show him in here,’ directed Wallace.
    In a few minutes the man arrived and, from his face, it was easy to see that he had news of importance to impart.
    ‘What is it?’ asked the superintendent.
    ‘A dhow without any lights was seen to slip away about half past two on the morning of the ball, sir,’ was the quick reply. ‘My informant, a Spanish fisherman, told me he was working towards the east of the bay when he saw her coming out. She passed quite close, and there appeared to be an unusual number of men on her deck. He yelled at her about the absence of lights, but received no reply. Apparently that roused his suspicions, for he kept his eyeson her until she was out of sight. She seemed to be steering for Ceuta, he said.’
    ‘Ah! That sounds interesting. I’d like to see the fisherman.’
    ‘Shall I go and fetch him, sir?’
    ‘No; it would take too long. I’ll go to him, if you’ll show me the way.’
    Without bothering about lunch, Wallace set off immediately in one of the Governor’s cars. Half an hour later he was crossexamining the fisherman, and discovered that the dhow in question was painted white, had white sails, and was much larger and altogether cleaner than the usual Moorish craft.
    ‘It looked to me, señor, as though she were the property of a wealthy man,’ stated the Spaniard.
    ‘A kind of pleasure yacht?’ asked Wallace. Like most European languages he speaks Spanish well.
    The man nodded.
    ‘There was a large deckhouse astern,’ he said, ‘which is most unusual on a dhow. It looked to me as though it had been built there as a cabin or saloon for the owner.’
    ‘Have you ever seen the boat before?’
    ‘No, señor.’
    Two hours later, leaving the mystified Governor to puzzle out things as best he could, Wallace was on his way across the Straits in a large motor-launch, borrowed for the occasion, with a small skiff in tow. With him was Batty and a crew of three British sailors detailed from HMS Lapwing . He would have liked to have taken a couple of policemen as well, but mindful of the fact that he was about to enter foreign territory, and of the necessity of secrecy, he had decided to take Batty only.
    The launch was headed for Ceuta, but Wallace had no intentionof entering that port. If the dhow had had on board the Prince, it is certain that he would not have been landed in a seaport belonging to Spain. In fact it was unlikely that he would have been taken to any town at all. It is impossible to land prisoners, even in a Moroccan port, without causing comment, and comment was the very last thing the captors would desire. It was Sir Leonard’s belief that the dhow would have entered one of the many inlets on the coast between Ceuta and Tangier where it would be possible to land its prisoners without fear of observation. His intention was, therefore, to search the coast between those two towns.
    He did not lose sight of the possibility that he was on a wild goose chase. Actually he had nothing to go on but the finding of a morocco-bound notebook and the suspicious behaviour of a white dhow, precious little to lead him to the whereabouts of a kidnapped prince. But he knew Cousins well, and felt sure he had read the message of the notebook aright. Certain, then, that the captives had been taken to Morocco, it did not require a great deal of