"You must be quick. We have only a quarter
of an hour now. He is an Englishman."
White got into the cab with Uncle Ben, who appeared to be sleeping, and
closed the door after him. In a few moments he emerged again.
"Tell the man to drive to a chemist's," he said to Mrs. Vansittart.
"The fellow is not so bad. I have got something out of him, and will
get more. Follow in your carriage--you and Miss Roden."
It was Major White's turn now to take the lead, and Mrs. Vansittart
meekly obeyed, though White's movements were so leisurely as to madden
her.
At the chemist's shop, White descended from the carriage and appeared
to have some language in common with the druggist, for he presently
returned to the carriage, carrying a tumbler. After a moment he went to
the window of Mrs. Vansittart's neat brougham.
"I must bring him in here," he said. "You have a pair of horses which
look as if they could go. Tell your man to drive to the pumping-station
on the Dunes, wherever that may be."
Then he went and fetched Uncle Ben, whom he brought by one arm, in a
dislocated condition, trotting feebly to keep pace with the major's
long stride.
Mrs. Vansittart's coachman must have received very decided orders, for
he skirted the town at a rattling trot, and soon emerged from the
streets into the quiet of the Wood, which was dark and deserted. Here,
in a sandy and lonely alley, he put the horses to a gallop.
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