The Return of Moriarty by John E. Gardner Page B

Bench Walk.”
    Moriarty felt the excitement of the chase coming to a close and gave orders that Druitt should be watched and followed constantly. This was done, and in the weeks that followed Druitt made three journeys to London, always shadowed by one of Paget’s men. On each occasion the barrister-turned-teacher went straight to his chambers in the Inner Temple, where he appeared to stay, alone.
    In the meantime the specter of Jack the Ripper—as the Whitechapel murderer had now come to be known—lowered over the dismal streets of the East End. But as week followed week and no other victim fell under the Ripper’s blade, a false sense of security settled on everyone, from Paget’s men to the police and vigilantes who patrolled the streets, and the loitering ladybirds who walked them.
    On the evening of November 8 Montague John Druitt made a fourth sally from the school at 9 Eliot Place, Blackheath, and took the train to London. Paget’s man on duty was an experienced watchdog by the name of Frederick Hawkins.
    Moriarty had devised an ingenious system for Paget’s watchers. They worked on a rota system, and each man had a runner—usually a young boy being trained for other work, either as a dipper or cracksman’s mate: a snakesman, as they were called—who, because of his youth, build and turn of speed, could be sent to warn of any sudden change of movements by Druitt.
    On this occasion Druitt took a train from Blackheath to Cannon Street, Hawkins actually traveling in the same compartment, while the runner, a lad of some ten years, was on the same train.
    Druitt acted true to form, taking a hansom from Cannon Street to the Inner Temple, entering by the Gatehouse at Middle Temple Lane. Once he was in, Hawkins took up his lonely vigil, sending the lad off to report the movement to Paget, suggesting that his relief should take over from that point at eight the following morning. Paget had been uneasy during the previous three occasions when his men had followed their quarry into London itself, for he was well aware that Druitt could enter the Inner Temple by one gate and slip in and out with ease through another. He knew that he should at these times have quickly provided men to watch the other entrances, but as nothing untoward had occurred at other times he did not press Moriarty about it.
    Hawkins was relatively fresh, having relieved the day man only fifteen minutes or so before Druitt left for Cannon Street. He remained awake through the night, taking what shelter he could during the bouts of rain that fell heavily in the early hours.
    Dawn broke, cloudy and overcast, but at seven in the morning Hawkins was amazed to see a figure he recognized hurrying through the early light toward the Gatehouse. It was Druitt, dressed in a long rust-colored overcoat and a deerstalker hat. Hawkins was able to see that he wore a red neckerchief and that his face, adorned only by a sandy mustache, was, as he put it later, “as white as death.” Druitt walked quickly, though with a gait that suggested extreme fatigue. He was also carrying a package that appeared to be wrapped in American cloth.
    Hawkins, in fear, realized immediately that at some point during the night Druitt must have left the Temple by either the Embankment or Tudor Street and was now returning through the normal entrance. Immediately, Hawkins sent his runner off to pass the information to Paget. At eight o’clock his relief arrived with another runner and Hawkins quickly made his way to the house off the Strand, where he found Paget.
    By half-past nine Paget, Spear, Colonel Moran and Moriarty, together with Hawkins, were gathered in the drawing room. The mood was anxious and grim as it was now quite plain that Druitt had managed to evade their surveillance for some unspecified period during the night. Both Paget and Spear had sent men into the Whitechapel area so that any untoward incident could be reported as