Quietly the watcher entered through the window, alert and tense. He
flew to the desk, found the envelope, steamed it open at the kettle,
extracted the sealed envelope and Colonel Hare's note. He smiled as he
read the letter and changed his plans completely. He would not play
messenger; he would use a lure instead. With his ear strained for
sounds, he wrote and substituted a note. This houri of Sa'adi would
not pause to note the difference in writing; the vitalness of the
subject would enchain her thoughts. It was all accomplished in the
space of a few minutes. Smiling, he passed out into the fast settling
twilight.
They were shipping a lion to San Francisco, and the roaring and
confusion were all very satisfactory to the trespasser.
Midnight. From afar came the mellow notes of the bells in the ancient
Spanish mission. The old year was dead, the new year was born,
carrying with it the unchanging sound of happiness and misery, of
promises made and promises broken, of good and evil.
"The packet!" cried Winnie.
Kathlyn recognized in that call that Winnie was only a child. All the
responsibility lay upon her shoulders. She ripped the cover from the
packet and read the note.
"Father."
"Oh, Kit, Kit!"
"Hush, Winnie! I must go, and go alone. Where's the evening paper?
Ah, there it is. Let me see what boat leaves San Francisco to-morrow.
The _Empress of India_, six a. m. I must make that. Now, you're your
father's daughter, too, Winnie. You must stay behind and be brave and
wait. I shall come back. I shall find father, if I have to rouse all
India. Now, to pack."
When they arrived at the station the passenger train had just drawn
out. For a while Kathlyn felt beaten. She would be compelled to wait
another week. It was disheartening.
"Why not try the freight, then?" cried Winnie.
"You little angel! I never thought of that!"
But the crew would not hear of it. It was absolutely against the
company's rules. Kathlyn could have cried.
"It isn't money, miss, it's the rules," said the conductor kindly. "I
can't do it."
Kathlyn turned in despair toward the station. It was then she saw the
boxed lion on the platform. She returned to the conductor of the
freight.
"Why isn't that lion shipped?"
"We can't carry a lion without an attendant, miss. You ought to know
that."
"Very well," replied Kathlyn. She smiled at the conductor confidently.
"I'll travel as the lion's attendant. You certainly can not object to
that."