Neither P.C.'s recollect having noticed any suspicious-looking
person in the vicinity.
"JOHN PERCIVAL, _Inspector_."
I waited for no more, but rushed round to the hospital in the cab, and
was, five minutes later, taken along the ward, where I identified poor
Jack lying in bed, white-faced and unconscious.
"The doctor was here a quarter of an hour ago," whispered the sister.
"And he fears he is sinking."
"He has uttered no words?" I asked anxiously. "Made no statement?"
"None. He has never regained consciousness, and I fear, sir, he never
will. It is a case of deliberate murder, the police told me early this
morning."
I clenched my fists and swore a fierce revenge for that dastardly act.
And as I stood beside the narrow bed, I realized that what Olinto had
said regarding my own peril was the actual truth. I was a marked man.
Was I never to penetrate that inscrutable and ever-increasing mystery?
CHAPTER XVII
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE "LOLA"
Throughout the long night I called many times at the hospital, but the
reply was always the same.
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