dkerchiefs
until they disappeared.

I could tell by the noise in the street that their strange method of
conveyance was attracting considerable attention; but as I felt thankful
to note, no one seemed to connect their appearance with my rooms.

The next hour or so passed quickly enough, and I did not begin to get in
the least anxious till I heard the clock strike two, and then I suddenly
realised that they were over half-an-hour late.

"Oh, they're all right," I consoled myself with thinking. "I expect
Gammage is so interested in the wonderful carpet that they can't get
away."

When three hours had passed, however, and there was no sign of their
return, I began to get seriously alarmed.

"What can have happened?" I thought, and, to add to my discomfiture, a
telegram arrived from Lionel's parents inquiring if he had arrived in
London safely from Marlborough.

I was able to reply, truthfully, that he _had_ arrived safely, but, as
hour after hour passed by without any trace of either Shin Shira or the
boy, I became more and more disturbed.

At last I could stand it no longer, but putting on my hat, I hurried off
to the nearest Police Station.

"H'm! What do you say, sir?" said the Police Inspector whom I found
there, seated before a large open book, when in a broken voice I had
hurriedly explained that I feared that my young cousin was lost. "Went
off in company with a foreign-looking gent--Just describe him to me,
please, as near as you can."

I described Shin Shira's appearance as accurately as I could, and the
Police Inspector looked up hurriedly and gave me a searching glance.

"Do you mean to say the gent was going about the streets dressed like
_that_?" he asked, when I had told him about Shin Shira's yellow costume
and turban.

"Yes," I replied in some confusion, "he is a foreigner, you know, and--"

"Where does he come from?"

"From Japan, I think, or China, or--"

"What's his name?"

"Shin Shira Scaramanga Manousa Yama Hama is his full name, but--"

The Police Inspector laid down his pen and stared again at me.

"It's a curious name," said he; "I'll get you to write it down for me. I
don't think I should be surprised at _anything_ happening to _anyone_
with a name like that. Where do you say they were going?"

"Well," I explained, "they set out to go to Wimbledon to see a--"

"Wimbledon? Let's see, from Kensington they'd go by train I suppose,
from High Street Station, and change at--"

"