. The more Thorpe reflected upon this
grievance the more angry did he become, until he finally swore enmity
against Cabot Grant, and to get even with him if ever he had the chance.

He was provoked that his chosen companion should have dismissed him so
curtly, without any intimation of what he proposed to do, and this he
determined to discover. So he went to New York and made inquiries at
the offices of the company acting as Cabot's guardian; but could only
learn that the young man had left the city after two private interviews
with President Hepburn. At the club where Cabot had lunched on the day
of his departure, Thorpe's appearance created surprise.

"Thought you had started off with Grant on a trip around the world?"
said one member in greeting him.

"No," replied Walling; "we are not going."

"But he sailed two days ago. At least, he said that was what he was
about to do when he bade me good-bye on his way to the steamer."

"What steamer, and where was she bound?" asked Thorpe.

"Don't know. He only said he was about to sail."

"I'll not be beaten that way," thought Walling, angrily; and, having
plenty of money to expend as best suited him, he straightway engaged
the services of a private detective. This man was instructed to
ascertain for what port a certain Cabot Grant had sailed from New York
two days earlier, and that very evening the coveted information was in
his possession.

"Sailed on the 'Lavinia' for St. Johns, Newfoundland, has he?" muttered
Thorpe. "Then I, too, will visit St. Johns, and discover what he is
doing. I might as well go there as anywhere else; and perhaps Grant
will find out that it would have been wiser to confide in an old friend
than to treat him as shabbily as he has me."

Having reached this decision, Walling took a train from New York, and,
travelling by way of Boston, Portland, and Bangor, crossed the St.
Croix River from Maine into New Brunswick at Vanceboro. From there he
went, via St. John, N.B., and Truro, Nova Scotia, to Port Mulgrave,
where he passed over the Strait of Canso to Cape Breton. Across that
island his route lay through the Bras d'Or country to North Sidney, at
which point he took steamer for Port aux Basques and the Newfoundland
railway that should finally land him in St. Johns. On this journey he
became acquainted with several Americans, with whom he played whist,
which is what he was doing when his train pulled up at the St. George's
Bay platf