"No. Hornby told me that he and Chater were alone."

"And yet an hour after you left a man and a woman came ashore and
disappeared! Ah! If we only had a description of that woman it would
reveal much to us."

"She was young and dark-haired, so the detective says. She had a curious
fixed look in her eyes which attracted him, but she wore a thick motor
veil, so that he could not clearly discern her features."

"And her companion?"

"Middle-aged, prematurely gray, with a small dark mustache."

Jack Durnford sighed and stroked his chin.

"Ah! Just as I thought," he exclaimed. "And they were actually here, in
this port, a week ago! What a bitter irony of fate!"

"I don't understand you," I said. "You are so mysterious, and yet you
will tell me nothing!"

"The police, fools that they are, have allowed them to escape, and they
will never be caught now. Ah! you don't know them as I do! They are the
cleverest pair in all Europe. And they have the audacity to call their
craft the _Lola_--the _Lola_, of all names!"

"But as you know who and what the fellows are, you ought, I think, in
common justice to Hutcheson, to tell us something," I complained. "If
they are adventurers, they ought to be traced."