Captain Spade went to meet them.
"Guns barking," he said laconically.
"We expected it," replied Serko, shrugging his shoulders. "They are
signals to close the passes."
"What has that to do with us?" asked the Count d'Artigas quietly.
"Nothing at all," said the engineer.
They all, of course, knew that the alarm-guns indicated that the
disappearance of Thomas Roch and the warder Gaydon from Healthful
House had been discovered.
At daybreak the doctor had gone to Pavilion No. 17 to see how
his patient had passed the night, and had found no one there. He
immediately notified the director, who had the grounds thoroughly
searched. It was then discovered that the door in rear of the park was
unbolted, and that, though locked, the key had been taken away. It was
evident that Roch and his attendant had been carried out that way. But
who were the kidnappers? No one could possibly imagine. All that could
be ascertained was that at half-past seven on the previous night one
of the doctors had attended Thomas Roch, who was suffering from one of
his fits, and that when the medical man had left him the invalid was
in an unconscious condition. What had happened after the doctor took
leave of Gaydon at the end of the garden-path could not even be
conjectured.
The news of the disappearance was telegraphed to New Berne, and thence
to Raleigh. On receipt of it the Governor had instantly wired orders
that no vessel was to be allowed to quit Pamlico Sound without having
been first subjected to a most rigorous search.
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