n' then--you know how it was all
comin' so suddin? When I see the feller go over, an' seen you start
to'rds the water, I jest took after the others. Well, sir, 'twas too
slick the way they managed. Right alongside them willers there was one
o' them little skiffs that's stuck round the island for show, or one
jest like 'em. It lay jest where that little woody strip 'ud come
right 'tween the island and the other side, an' 'twas all dark there.
Wal, they all run that way crost the grass, an' me after 'em, close as
'twas safe to git. Two of 'em, the tall woman an' one of the men, got
into the skiff, an' the other two struck off north, keepin' on the
grass an' under the shade. I follered after 'em; they went pretty
fast, too, till they come most to them Hoodoo tea-shops, you know; we
hadn't met a soul so far, but it was lighter there, and I see there
was a guard comin' to'rds 'em, an' what d' ye s'pose they did?'

'Oh, go on, Billy!'

'Wal, I had got pretty closte, and I seen them whisperin' together,
an' then it seemed to me that they wasn't so far away as they had been
a minit before. Then flash came a fizz match, an' sure enough there
they was, facin' to'rds me, an' the very way they'd come, an' holdin'
the match to the ground. Jest then the guard come up, an' they told
him they or she had dropped their purse, an' she was lookin' for it;
an' when he asked when, she said, "Oh, an hour ago," when they walked
across the island to see the Hor--horty----'

'Horticultural?'

'--'Tyculchural place lighted; an' the guard said he feared they
wouldn't find it, an' went on, tellin' them they'd better hurry out;
an' then he went back the way they'd come, crost the bridge an' all,
an' every little way they'd light a match, an' course I got so close I
heard her say, "It must 'a' been when I fell down." I thought
somebody got a fall when they run from the bridge down into the
bushes.'

'Well, did you find where they went?'

'Drat the luck! No! I'd follered them out Midway, and was jest a
little ways behind, when a couple o' guards stopped me, and afore I'd
got out of their grip the two of 'em was out of sight.'

I was not surprised to hear this. I was quite convinced that the gang
had in some manner secured a safe and secret lurking-place in the
Plaisance. Still, somehow, I had hoped for something more from Billy's
report, and felt somewhat disappointed. But I had yet to learn its
true value.

During my absence there had come