The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler Part 14

He saw them purchase tickets and board a train.

Gliding over to the ticket office he asked the agent:

"Where did those five people buy tickets for?"

"Montreal," replied the man, "on the Grand Trunk road."

"Thank you," said Harry, politely.

And the boy ran behind a freight car to shelter him from the gaze of the pa.s.sengers in the waiting train.

Finding an opening between two of the cars he peered through.

Directly opposite him sat the woman in black, with two of her male companions in the seat ahead and two behind her.

She was close to the window.

Just then she drew her veil aside and Harry saw her face.

A startled cry escaped the boy.

"By jove!" he gasped. "She's Clara La Croix, the girl smuggler!"

And so she was!

CHAPTER VIII.

GAINING A FEW POINTS.

Young King Brady, of course, knew nothing about the dialogue which pa.s.sed between his partner and the girl. But he felt pretty confident that Old King Brady did not know who the girl was.

Without the slightest hesitation Harry made his way unseen to the rear car, and boarded the train just as it pulled out of the station.

The boy wore a bicycle suit and a false beard.

He felt pretty sure he would not be known in this outfit, and pa.s.sing inside the car, he took a seat.

The distance between Toronto and Montreal was about 350 miles along the Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river.

"I don't believe La Croix or his wife are in Toronto," the boy muttered, "for we've gone over the city with a fine-toothed comb, and failed to find the slightest sign of them. They must be either in Montreal or Quebec, for the girl is going to the former place. Miss Clara made a quick trip. She could not have been here long from Holland. And I presume she is laden with those diamonds she went after. La Croix is now doubtless scheming to smuggle them over the border into the United States. We've got to watch these people closely now. That Frenchman is a desperate man. We have seen that he would not stop at murder to attain his purposes. When I reach Montreal, I must telegraph Old King Brady to come on and meet me. He will be wondering what has become of me now."

When the conductor came through, Harry paid his fare in cash.

A short time afterward one of the girl's male companions made a trip from one end of the train to the other.

He sharply eyed every pa.s.senger on the cars and favored Harry with a particularly keen and searching stare.

It made the boy imagine for an instant that his ident.i.ty was known, but he never flinched.

The man pa.s.sed on, however, without making any remark.

It took fifteen hours to make the run, and it was three o'clock on the following afternoon before the train pulled into Montreal.

Shadowing the girl smuggler and her companions, Harry saw them go to a hotel, where the men left her.

While they went down to the Dominion Line dock, the girl pa.s.sed into the hotel and Harry saw her go upstairs.

The hotel clerk, a dudish young fellow, was staring after her when Harry approached him and said:

"Deuced pretty girl that."

"Very," a.s.sented the clerk. "A widow, too!"

"Rather young to be a widow, don't you think?"

"Yes, indeed."

"What's her name?"

"Mrs. Marie P. Savoy."

"Been here long?"

"A week."

"Alone?"

"She came in on the steamer Dominion from Havre alone, but her mother and father soon joined her here. She went down to Toronto a few days ago leaving the old folks here. She's just returned."

"I see. I'd like to get acquainted with her."

"You may if you stop here."

"That's what I'm going to do. Give me a good room."

"Very well, sir. Got any baggage?"

"None, whatever. I came from Niagara in a hurry."

"You can have No. 37. That's right next to the one occupied by the beautiful young widow. Perhaps it may lead to your becoming acquainted with her as you wish."

"I hope so," laughed Harry, who was delighted at his good luck. "Got a telegraph station here?"

"No. But there's one across the street."