Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/186

176 morning. By the time we arrived at our destination we had held many consultations over our future, and the net result was a decision to look for a quiet hotel on the outskirts of the city, and then to attempt to discover what the mystery, in which we had been so deeply involved, might mean. The merits of all the various suburbs were severally discussed, though I knew but little about them, and the Marquis less. Paramatta, Penrith, Woolahra, Balmain, and even many of the bays and harbours received attention, until we decided on Balmain as the most likely place to answer our purpose.

Having come to a decision we crossed Darling harbour, and after a little hunting about discovered a small but comfortable hotel situated in a side street and called the "General Officer." Here we booked rooms, deposited our meagre baggage, and having installed our selves, sat down and discussed the situation.

"So this is Sydney," said Beckenham, as he spoke stretching himself out comfortably upon the sofa by the window. "And now that we've got here, what's to be done first?"

"Have lunch," I answered promptly.

"And then?" he continued.

"Hunt up a public library and take a glimpse of the Morning Herald's back numbers. They will tell us a good deal, though not all we want to know. Then we'll make a few inquiries. To-morrow morning I shall ask you to excuse me for a couple of hours. But in the afternoon we ought to have acquired sufficient information to enable us to make a definite start on what we've got to do."

"You mean enough to enable us to expose these rascals."

"Quite so. What else are we here for?"