62 FOR THE FLAG

“With many apolozies and good wishes for a pleasant
voyage and a speedy return!” rejoined Serké ; and his
remark ended in a long laugh.

When the news was known at Newburn the authorities
asked each other whether it meant flight or abduction. As
a flight could not have taken place without Gaydon’s con-
nivance, that idea was abandoned. In the opinion of the
Principal and the Committee, the keeper’s conduct was
above suspicion.

Then it must have been abduction—and one may imagine
the effect of thatin the town. What! the French inventor,
so strictly guarded, had disappeared ! and with him the
secret of the Fulgurator which no one had yet been
able to acquire ? Surely the consequences would be very
grave. Was the new discovery completely lost to
America? Suppose the deed had been done by another
nation, would not that nation, now that Thomas Roch
had fallen into its power, make use of what the Federal
Government had not been able to obtain, and how could
it possibly be believed that the authors of the abduction
had acted for a private individual ?

So, precautions were extended over the various divisions
of North Carolina. An elaborate supervision was exer-
cised on the roads and railways, and around the residences
in the. towns and country. As for the sea, it was to be
closed along the whole length of the coast, from Wilming-
ton to Norfolk. No vessel was to be exempt from search
by officers or police agents, and any was to be detained on
the slightest suspicious indication. Not only was the