CHAPTER X

CAPTAIN LINK’S APPEARANCE

While Mr Falcon had been scheming in Sussex, Harry Goodall, on returning to the Crystal Palace, found that as his first ascent had proved such a great success, he would immediately try to guard against public gossip respecting the diabolical attempt which had been made to damage his balloon, in case the palace authorities might be induced to stop any further experiments.

Unquestionably, the erratic visits of the mysterious spy and his little satellite showed that the delinquent on the Essex marsh, the “shadow man” and the man on the North Tower with Eben Croft, were one and the same. The aeronaut felt sure that if these men were seen to be dogging his footsteps, the palace directors would not feel disposed to allow another aerial trip.

Tom Trigger and his master had well considered what had taken place, and Miss Chain and her mother were duly cautioned against alluding to the suspicious strangers, and were also requested not to tell Hawksworth the detective anything that had taken place.

On thinking over the matter, it then had occurred to Trigger that he had seen someone very like Ebenezer Croft at the place where Lucy was in service, and he had mentioned this to Warner, who was sent down by the palace police inspector to pick up what information he could at Wedwell Park, the results of which were given in Chapter VII., and which led to the discharge of Croft as a matter of expediency; so that, notwithstanding the disparaging remarks of Hawksworth, Warner had obtained something like a clue or two and had turned them to a good account, after he left Wedwell.

On Harry Goodall’s next visit to the Crystal Palace, it was found that little damage had been done to the workroom stores, beyond the theft of a paper on “Flight.” This trifling plunder was doubtless owing to Warner’s watchfulness, who, in his quiet, unpretending manner was always on the alert.

There being nothing, therefore, to prevent the making of a second ascent, the aeronaut was determined to proceed with it forthwith, so that not more than a fortnight elapsed before the balloon was again brought out for inflation; and as the former trial trip had created such general admiration, the manager quite regretted that these aerial exploitings were to be made without public announcement. There was, however, no moving the amateur from his decision. He had so little of the showman in his composition that he did not care for spectators of his skill, though he was ready to study the gratification of those who honoured him with their presence, and this he considered to be a proper return for the advantages afforded him at such an admirable spot for ballooning, as the palace proved to be.

While preparations were being made in the glass-room, a gentleman presented himself, not a “shadow man” or Tower sneak this time, but a welcome guest. He was no other than Captain Link, who had seen his young friend’s balloon when it passed over the _Neptune_ as she was going up the Thames, and who now came to have a chat with Harry, not only on his own account, but as the representative of Mr William Goodall, who believed that the straightforward, outspoken seaman would do more to convert his nephew than the Quixotic performances of Mr Falcon, of whom the merchant had formed an unfavourable opinion.

Captain Link suggested that whilst Tom Trigger and a gang of the palace gardeners were making arrangements for the filling, that he and Harry should take a turn round the gardens, and have a cigar together.

“I want to know, Link,” said the delighted aeronaut, “if my uncle saw the balloon as we crossed your mast heads?”

“Of course he did, long before you recognised us, which I suppose you did; but he was depressed about a matter which has been troubling us, and just as the tug’s black smoke rose up to you, I gave him a letter to read which I had in my pocket, and it brightened him up considerably. However, I was requested not to say anything to you about family matters. Your uncle said that I was to be strictly silent on that point, for he felt sure that nothing I could say would stop you from accomplishing whatever you had engaged to do, so for to-day, Harry, we won’t allude to anything but your favourite ballooning, please, and your proposed companions, of whom I am curious to hear something, if you have no objection. I was told before I spoke to you that you were going to ascend this afternoon.”

“Yes; stay and join me, Link.”

“What do you mean, Harry?”

“Well, join me at luncheon and see me off; I shall rely upon your doing that much, at anyrate, and perhaps more, eh?”

“Very pleased, but I must tell you candidly that your uncle is still dead set against ballooning; however, he thinks that you should not break faith here with the palace people, although he did ask me to try and persuade you not to continue your ascents after to-day, as a Mr Falcon is making a mess of his mission to you.”

“I was not aware that anyone had been here in the character of a missionary. The only persons I have noticed are two downright scoundrels who have been hanging about and haunting me, if I may use the expression, and not only me, but also Miss Chain and her mother, two ladies who are assisting me in my work, and who are really above this kind of thing. You noticed Miss Chain, probably?”

“Do you mean that demure and lady-like girl I saw at needlework, sitting near that smart-looking man?”

“Yes, I do, Link; but I must give him the cold shoulder, as he is becoming a nuisance, and is a detective, I hear. The Chains are most industrious, but were robbed of all they possessed by an unprincipled financier.”

“What a shame! If this young lady is a sample of your employees, I am agreeably surprised, Harry, for they were described to your uncle as being very different kind of people to this specimen I happen to have seen. Couldn’t something be done for such a lady-like girl?”

“I have been thinking on that point myself; the poor girl has been terribly bothered by an inquisitive fellow, who has made himself most obnoxious. By the way, he is a fine, aristocratic-looking man, not unlike you in build, Link, but he has such an evil expression of face, whilst you have a good one--but I must not flatter you.”

“No, pray don’t descend to that, Goodall.”

“Situated, however, as I am, Link, I cannot very well raise a complaint here to the manager, but I am all ready for the fellow if he should show up again, and we fortunately have an obliging but humble-minded policeman on the lookout. I don’t mean that fussy, amateurish detective, but a quiet, practical man, who has already made an example of one fellow. His name is Warner, and look here, Link, if you can find an opportunity of having a word or two with the Chains, I should appreciate the attention, as they have been so much traduced to my Uncle Goodall.”

“All right, Harry, and I have made up my mind to stay and see who goes up, as I should like to be able to speak as I find of your associates.”

“As to those going up--Miss Chain will accompany me for one, and my assistant, Trigger. I promised the young lady a trip for her indefatigable work and general assistance.”

“Don’t tell me any more of this prodigy, Harry. Remember that I am a bachelor and a sailor,” said the captain, laughing heartily.

“I don’t forget that, old friend, but I want you to know that Miss Chain is a much-maligned young lady; she and her mother were in a state of downright want when Tom Trigger introduced them to me.”

“And you will never regret having done them a good turn, and now that I am reminded of your sterling qualities, Harry, I really must tell you something your uncle asked me last evening. He wanted to know if I could bring you to think more about commercial and matrimonial affairs.”

“Oh, yes, I know very well what he and my father want me to do, but I don’t see it at present.”

“I told him that I didn’t much care about speaking to you on such subjects, and that I was more likely to be converted by you, as I had always had a desire to go up in a balloon.”

“And what did my uncle say to that, Link?”

“He said he didn’t mind what I did, even if I took you to sea with me, so long as I led you out of the way of ballooning.”

“And suppose that I lead you away into the upper regions over land and sea, what would my uncle say then?”

“Why, I should lose my character and my ship, too, very likely,” replied Link, with consternation plainly written on his face.

“Not you, captain; you’ve too much mettle in you to be cast aside for preaching to me in cloudland.”

“By Jove! I never thought of that idea, Harry--I mean as a reason for going up.”

“How do you know, Link, what experiment I am going to try this very day?”

“I don’t, and that’s a fact.”

“Can you answer this question, Link? Where are marriages made?”

“Up aloft, they say.”

“Then how do you know that I am not going aloft, with you, for all I know, to invoke Cupid’s aid as to the knotty matrimonial problem?” said Harry, jokingly.

“I don’t profess to understand your lofty intentions, Goodall; they present such a romantic and fascinating aspect that I must agree to join you in testing them--if you will give me a lift up for that purpose; but you are solely responsible, mind, for raising such a spirit of inquiry.”

“There, for goodness’ sake, Link, let us stop joking. Here comes Miss Chain. I expect she has something to say to me about ascending.”

“Do introduce me, Goodall. I saw her coming before you did, and also that detective party who is not far astern of Miss Chain--perhaps he is her admirer.”

“Can’t fail to be that, Link; but just now Hawksworth is looking at a photograph, and now he is looking at us.”

“So he is. Perhaps he is wondering who I am. He is sheering off now--but who is this trying to catch your eye on the other side, Harry?”

“Oh, that’s Warner; he comes from the palace, where I am wanted, most likely. However, I will introduce you to the young lady.--Miss Chain, may I introduce to you an old friend of mine, Captain Link?” added Harry, as she came up to speak to him.

“I feel it a great honour, Captain Link, to become acquainted with a friend of my esteemed employer,” said Miss Chain.

“I shall have to leave you, Link, for a short time,” said Mr Goodall, “as the general manager wishes to see me. You will be back in time to ascend, Miss Chain?”

“I shall not be gone long, Mr Goodall,” was the reply.

Captain Link strolled on with Miss Chain, listening with delight to her conversation, and did not observe that they had passed the turnstiles and were going down the Anerley Road, towards where Mrs Chain lived. Presently, when close to the Thicket Hotel, they noticed two men coming towards them, whom Miss Chain at once recognised as her tormentors, and, strange to say, their faces seemed also familiar to Captain Link. This coincidence puzzled the young lady greatly, as she had thought at first that there was some personal resemblance between the taller one and her escort. When the men caught sight of Captain Link, they hurried away, much to his annoyance, as he wished that they had stopped long enough for him to remember their names and where he had seen them before.

Whilst talking on this subject, Miss Chain observed her mother, who was on the lookout for her return, and wished that Captain Link would say good-bye; but in that respect she was disappointed, as he presently remarked that he should very much like to be introduced to Mrs Chain, and after that he would go to the Thicket Hotel and try to find out who those men were, and would return in half an hour’s time to walk back to the palace with Miss Chain and her mother, if agreeable to them.

On this understanding, Captain Link exchanged a few words with Mrs Chain and then went on to the hotel, where he met Warner, who had himself been looking for the two spies, as there had been a police rumour that Hawksworth was expecting the arrival of some such men, and Warner inferred that they had actually been in the palace before, but that Hawksworth had failed to spot them. However, not finding them at the Thicket as he expected, Warner remarked that they might possibly have popped over the palings, or through a side gate, into the palace grounds, and he asked the captain, if he saw him at the entrance turnstile, not to take any notice of him, as he might be on the lookout for suspicious visitors.

On returning to the Chains, Captain Link remarked that it had flashed across his mind that the two men must have been passengers on board the _Neptune_, the last ship he came to England in, but he could not recall their names, being a bad hand at that sort of thing.

“Do you know,” asked Miss Chain, “if Filcher was the name of the more gentlemanly one of the two men?”

“No, I don’t think that was it.”

“Was it Croft, Captain Link?”

“Well, one of them answered to the name of Croft, and now I recollect that it was the name of the little man; but his master’s--let me see, I have it now--he was called Falcon, and he was my employer’s friend--or, I should say, he passed as such for some time after the owner of the ship had left Sydney. However, we will not say more about them at present.”

“I am so glad,” said Mrs Chain, as they drew nearer to the palace, “that you were with my daughter, Captain Link, when those suspicious men turned up again.”

“Indeed, I am proud to have met Miss Chain; and, do you know, I have some idea of ascending this afternoon?”

“Indeed!” said the mother, “that will be nice, and I hope you will all have an enjoyable trip.”

“I want to ask you,” said the captain, “as we are getting near to the balloon, not to say anything to my friend, Mr Harry Goodall, about this man Falcon, or Filcher Falcon as William Goodall styles him--or of any family accident or bereavement in the Goodall family of which you may have heard.”

“We certainly will not,” said Miss Chain.

“By the way,” said the sailor, “did you notice a man walking near you, just before we met in the grounds?”

“I did,” replied Miss Chain. “He was Hawksworth, the gentlemanly detective, but not, I should say, a clever one.”

“Then Warner is only an ordinary policeman, I suppose?” said Captain Link.

“Yes,” said Mrs Chain, “he is in plain clothes to-day, at present, however; he never parades about or makes so much of himself as this stranger Hawksworth does.”

“Indeed!” replied the captain--“but dear me, time has been on the wing. Why, the balloon is nearly full.”

“Yes, we must hurry on, dear,” said Mrs Chain to her daughter. “I’m afraid we are much later than we promised to be.”

“I see,” cried the captain, “that my friend Harry Goodall seems to be chatting with several gentlemen who are much interested in what he is going to do.”

“I wonder,” said Miss Chain, “if they are candidates for a trip?”

“I hope not,” replied the anxious mariner.

“I will ask,” said Miss Chain, “a palace official, who is coming our way, if any of them wish to go up.”

“I think not,” was the reply. “Some of them are distinguished visitors, who are delighted with Mr Goodall and his balloon.”

“Do you know them personally?” asked Captain Link.

“Oh yes; that portly, good-looking gentleman, speaking to the aeronaut, is Sir Joseph Terry, J.P., four times Lord Mayor of York; next to him is Sir William Ingram, Bart. The other gentlemen are Mr T. Hanson Lewis, a barrister, Mr John Holah, an artist, and Mr Charles Bucknell, an amateur aeronaut. The other aeronauts are Mr T. Wright, Mr Beatson, of Huddersfield, and the Brothers Spencer, of Holloway.”

“Thank you very much,” said the captain; “and now just one more inquiry, who is that tall, inquisitive looking man?--I have seen him before, eyeing me rather attentively.”

“Oh, never mind him--you would not care for his acquaintance,” said the official with a smile, as Hawksworth moved aside.

Miss Chain thought so too, though she refrained from mentioning his name, when they drew near the enclosure.