st.
A man signing himself Henry Gifford had applied for a first-class
passage to Colombo, with the intention of changing at that port into
another steamer for Hong Kong.

"What was he like?" I inquired of the clerk; "and did anything strike
you as peculiar about him or his appearance?"

"Well, there was one thing," he said. "And at the time I must say I
thought it funny. When I asked him his name, he began 'Gideon,' and then
suddenly corrected himself and said 'Henry Gifford.' I remember
wondering whether he was using a false name or not. He booked his
passage at the last moment, and seemed in a great hurry to get
aboard--being afraid he would miss the boat."

I questioned him as to the man's general appearance, and when I had
learned all he had to tell us, I was perfectly satisfied in my own mind
that Hayle was the man who had gone aboard.

"He didn't lose much time," said Leglosse. "Mark my words, he'll leave
the steamer at Port Said, and will either come back on his own tracks,
or go up the Palestine Coast to Jaffa, and thence back to Europe. What
do you think is the best thing to be done?"

"See the agent of the company here and get him to telegraph to Port
Said," I answered. "Both to their agent there and the captain of the
steamer. If the captain telegraphs back that Gifford is our man, we must
wire to the police authorizing them to detain him pending our arrival.
There is a bit of risk attached to it, but if we want to catch him we
must not think of that."

We accordingly interviewed the agent and placed the case before him. We
told him who we were, and Leglosse explained to him that he held a
warrant for the arrest of one Gideon Hayle, an individual whom he had
every reason to believe was endeavouring to escape under the assumed
name of Henry Gifford. The clerk was next called in, and gave his
evidence, and these matters having been settled, the telegrams were
despatched to both the captain and the agent.

Some four days we knew must certainly elapse before we could receive a
reply, and that time was devoted to searching the city for Kitwater and
Codd. That they had not booked passages in the same boat in which Hayle
had sailed, we soon settled to our satisfaction. In that case we knew
that they must be domiciled in Naples somewhere. In the intervals
between our search Leglosse and I used our best endeavours to make Miss
Kitwater enjoy her stay. We took her to Pompeii, climbed Vesuvius
together, visited