dently put on inside the
cab. He gave me a ten-franc piece, which was very satisfactory.

'And the fare you were following? What did he do?'

'He also stepped out, paid the cabman, went down the bank of the river
and got on board a steam launch that seemed to be waiting for him.'

'Did he look behind, or appear to know that he was being followed?'

'No, sir.'

'And your fare?'

'He ran after the first man, and also went aboard the steam launch,
which instantly started down the river.'

'And that was the last you saw of them?'

'Yes, sir.'

'At what time did you reach the Pont de Neuilly?'

'I do not know, sir; I was compelled to drive rather fast, but the
distance is seven to eight kilometres.'

'You would do it under the hour?'

'But certainly, under the hour.'

'Then you must have reached Neuilly bridge 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 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 seemed, in truth,
merely 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 afforded just the time he needed to get so far as the
Place Madeleine, and after that everything was easy. Yet, if it had
not been for those five minutes secured by coercion, I should not have
found the slightest excuse for arresting him. But he was accessory
after the act in that piece of illegal