A man may land anywhere and bolt
inland--but what about his five-ton cutter? You can't carry that in your
hand like a suit-case.
"Then as suddenly he would reappear in the river, after one had given him
up. I did not like to be beaten. That's why I hired Dingle's decked
boat. There was just the accommodation in her to sleep a man and a dog.
But I had no dog-friend to invite. Fyne's dog who saved Flora de
Barral's life is the last dog-friend I had. I was rather lonely cruising
about; but that, too, on the river has its charm, sometimes. I chased
the mystery of the vanishing Powell dreamily, looking about me at the
ships, thinking of the girl Flora, of life's chances--and, do you know,
it was very simple."
"What was very simple?" I asked innocently.
"The mystery."
"They generally are that," I said.
Marlow eyed me for a moment in a peculiar manner.
"Well, I have discovered the mystery of Powell's disappearances. The
fellow used to run into one of these narrow tidal creeks on the Essex
shore. These creeks are so inconspicuous that till I had studied the
chart pretty carefully I did not know of their existence.
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