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These two men had not been previously informed of the precise object of the expedition, but now that they were safely afloat Hazell judged it expedient to give them some notion of it. 'We expect to come across a rather suspicious steam launch, he said. 'My friend here is very anxious to get a sight of her, and until he has seen her nothing definite can be done.
Gradually they began again to overtake the dinghy, whose one-man crew was evidently tiring. As they came up, hand over fist, the dinghy's nose swerved aside, and the tiny craft passed down a water-lane between two anchored mineral barges, which lay black and deserted about fifty yards from the Surrey shore. 'To starboard, said Racksole. 'No, man! Hazell replied; 'we can't get through there.
'Your friend, Mr Tom Jackson, said Hazell to Racksole, 'committed an error of discretion when he hired the "Squirm". A scoundrel of his experience and calibre ought certainly to have known better than that. You cannot fail to get a clue now.
He has a boat on the river and a couple of men, and the right to board and examine any craft whatever. What Mr Hazell and his crew don't know about the Thames between here and Gravesend isn't knowledge. 'Glad to meet you, sir, said Racksole simply, and they shook hands. Racksole observed with satisfaction that Mr Hazell was entirely at his ease.
He leaned over the prostrate form of Jules, Hazell's professional skewer in his hand. 'What are you going to do with him now? asked Hazell. 'We'll row up to the landing steps in front of the Grand Babylon. He shall be well lodged at my hotel, I promise him. Jules spoke no word.
That night, just after dark, Theodore Racksole embarked with his new friend George Hazell in one of the black-painted Customs wherries, manned by a crew of two men both the later freemen of the river, a distinction which carries with it certain privileges unfamiliar to the mere landsman. It was a cloudy and oppressive evening, not a star showing to illumine the slow tide, now just past its flood.
It seemed to the millionaire that Hazell had been gone hours, but at length he returned. 'Can't find anything, he said, as he jumped into the boat, and then privately to Racksole: 'There's a woman on board. Looks as if she might coincide with your description of Miss Spencer. Steam's up, but there's no engineer.
They try to do us down, and we try to do them down it's pretty even on the whole. All's fair in war, you know, and there ain't no ten commandments in a Government office. Racksole laughed. 'Can you get off this afternoon? he asked. 'Certainly, said Hazell; 'I'll get one of my pals to sign on for me, and then I shall be free.
And surely the missing 'Squirm' was comfortably anchored on the starboard quarter of the Norwegian ship, hidden neatly between the ship and the shore. The men pulled very quietly alongside. 'I'LL board her to start with, said Hazell, whispering to Racksole. 'I'll make out that I suspect they've got dutiable goods on board, and that will give me a chance to have a good look at her.
But if I was you, Mr Hazell, or you, sir, I shouldn't step on to that barge so quick as all that. They backed the boat under the stem of the nearest barge and gazed upwards. 'It's all right, said Racksole to Hazell; 'I've got a revolver. How can I clamber up there? 'Yes, I dare say you've got a revolver all right, Hazell replied sharply. 'But you mustn't use it. There mustn't be any noise.
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