master
would probably call for the car on the following day, and produce the
receipt. He asked that it should be filled up with petrol in readiness
for his master. About two hours before the police made inquiry three
gentlemen entered the garage, the descriptions of whom tallied with
those of De Gex, Despujol and Moroni. De Gex produced the receipt for
the car. He paid for the petrol, and he and Despujol drove away
bidding farewell to Moroni! Despujol drove the car.

"Ah!" exclaimed Rivero. "Despujol would not risk the train. He always
arranges a secret means of escape. In this case he prepared it on the
day before. Without a doubt he knew that watch was being kept."

"Or was it that De Gex knew that I was here?" I suggested.

"Well, in any case," remarked the Commissary of Police, "the pair have
got clear away, and though we will do our best, it will no doubt be
extremely difficult to rediscover them. They will change the
number-plates on the car, and perhaps repaint it! Who knows? Despujol
is one of the most desperate characters in all Europe!"

"And Oswald De Gex is equally dangerous!" I declared, for I was still
no nearer the truth.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND

GABRIELLE AT HOME

I had been back in London a little over a week when I read in the
paper one morning a paragraph which possessed for me a peculiar
interest. It ran as follows:

"The notorious Spanish bandit Rodriquez Despujol, who has
for several years terrorized Murcia and Andalusia and has
committed several murders, is dead. The police have been
searching for him everywhere, but so elusive was he that he
always evaded them. The celebrated Spanish detective Senor
Rivero learnt a short time ago that the wanted man had been
seen at Nimes, where he cleverly contrived to escape by car.

"Certain clues came into the hands of the police, and by
these Senor Rivero was able to trace the fugitive to Denia,
not far from Valencia. He was hiding in a small cottage in
an orange-grove just outside the town. The place was
surrounded by police, but Despujol, discovering this, opened
fire upon them from one of the windows and also threw a hand
grenade among them, with result that two carabineers were
killed and four others injured, among the latter being Senor
Rivero himself. A desperate fight ensued, but in the end the
bandit received a bullet in the head which proved f