We finally tore ourselves away, followed by the porters carrying as much as they could.

“Bon voyage!” cried Elaine, bravely keeping back a choke in her voice.

Near the gangplank, in the crowd, I noticed a couple of sinister faces watching the ship’s officers and the passengers going aboard.  Kennedy’s quick eye spotted them, too, but he did not show in any way that he noticed anything as, followed by our two porters, we quickly climbed the gangplank.

A moment Craig paused by the rail and waved to Elaine and Bennett who returned the salute feelingly.  I paused at the rail, too, speculating how we were to get the rest of our baggage aboard in time, for we had taken several minutes saying good-bye.

“In there,” pointed Kennedy quickly to the porters, indicating our stateroom which was an outside room.  “Come, Walter.”

I followed him in with a heavy heart.

. . . . . . . .

Outside could be seen the two sinister faces in the crowd watching intently, with eyes fixed on the stateroom.  Finally one of the crooks boarded the ship hastily, while the other watched the two porters come out of the stateroom and pause at the window, speaking back into the room as though answering commands.

Then the porters quickly ran along the deck and down the plank, to get the rest of the luggage.  As they approached the Dodge car, Elaine, Aunt Josephine and Perry Bennett were straining their eyes to catch a last glimpse of us.

The porters took a small but very heavy box and, lugging and tugging, hastened toward the boat with it.  But they were too late.  The gang plank was being hauled in.

They shouted, but the ship’s officers waved them back.

“Too late!” one of the deckhands shouted, a little pleased to see that someone would be inconvenienced for tardiness.

The porters argued.  But it was no use.  All they could do was to carry the box back to the Dodge car.

Miss Dodge was just getting in as they returned.

“What shall we do with this and the other stuff?” asked the Irish porter.

She looked at the rest of the tagged luggage and the box which was marked: 

Scientific Instruments Valuable Handle with care.

“Here—­pile them in here,” she said indicating the taxicab.  “I’ll take charge of them.”

Meanwhile one of our sinister faced friends had just had time to regain the shore after following us aboard ship and strolling past the window of our stateroom.  He paused long enough to observe one of the occupants studying a map, while the other was opening a bag.

“They’re gone!” he said to the other as he rejoined him on the dock, giving a nod of his head and a jerk of his thumb at the ship.

“Yes,” added the other crook, “and lost most of their baggage, too.”

. . . . . . . .