"
Jerome put Watson's instructions in his wallet, at the same time
glancing about the room.
"Where is Fenton?" he asked.
It was Watson who answered. He gave us the first news that had
ever come from the Blind Spot. He spoke with firm deliberation, as
though in full realisation of the sensation:
"Hobart Fenton has gone through the Blind Spot. Just now he is
right here in this room."
Sir Henry jumped.
"In this room! Is that what you said, Watson?"
The other ignored him.
"Jerome, you haven't a minute to lose! You and the general; bring
that stone back to this house at ANY cost! Hurry!"
In another moment Jerome and Hume were gone. And few people, that
day, suspected the purport of that body of silent men who crossed
over the Bay of San Francisco. They were grim, and trusted, and
under secret orders. They had a mission, did they but know it, as
important as any in history. But they knew only that they were to
guard Jerome and the general at all hazards. One peculiarly heavy
stone, "the size of a pea"! How are we ever to calculate its
value?
As for the group remaining with Watson, not one of them ever
dreamed that any danger might come out of the Blind Spot. Its
manifestations had been local and mostly negative. No; the main
incentive of their interest had been simply curiosity.
But apparently Watson was above them all. He paid no further
attention to them for a while; he bent at Fenton's desk and worked
swiftly.
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