Jack, "the police would
have found something out before this. He could not have been hidden
away from them."

Buck shook his head. "Some o' these Dagoes are very sly and deep," he
replied. "I've heard queer stories about 'em at times. They say there
are brigands around."

"Yes, yes," said Jack, "in Sicily and in some of the wilder parts of
Calabria, but not in Brindisi, Buck, not in this big port."

"Well, I give it up," said Buck, "but there's a queer twist at the
bottom of it somewhere. The Professor ain't the sort o' man to worry
us by goin' into hiding somewhere, and lyin' low."

"Of course he isn't," said Jack. "My father was prevented from
returning to the hotel, that's clear enough; and we've got to find
how."

"Say, I'm your man, Jack," returned Buck. "I shan't feel easy till
I've had a glimpse o' the Professor with his old, quiet smile on him.
We'll hunt every hole there is."

For two days Jack and Buck hunted every hole about Brindisi, and,
stimulated by the promise of handsome rewards, the police, too, did
their utmost, but all was in vain; the missing man had disappeared as
though the earth had opened and swallowed him. Absolutely the only
thing out of the ordinary that the police could discover was that a
fisherman's skiff was missing one night, and was found the next
morning a couple of miles down the coast, floating idly about. But the
painter was drifting astern, and it might easily have happened that it
had been carelessly fastened, and the rope had slipped from the
mooring ring and allowed the skiff to drift away.

On the afternoon of the second day Jack announced his decision.
"Buck," said he, "I'm going back to London. I want to see Lane &
Baumann. It's quite possible that some information may be gleaned from
them which would give us a basis to go to work upon."

"It's no good stopping here," said Risley. "When shall we start?"

"To-night," said Jack, and, being near the station, they turned in to
look up the time of the fast express. Jack glanced along the platform,
and soon found what he sought, one of Cook's interpreters. "I want to
ask some questions of the booking-clerk," he said to the man, slipping
several _lire_ into his hand, "you might come and interpret for me."

"Yes, sir," said the man at once, and followed the tall young
Englishman to the office. In three minutes Jack had learned what he
wished as to the shortest route and fastest trains; then he and Risley
set out to retu