Perhaps a little money had helped to deepen this impression; one never knows.
But this was not all.

The woman was gone.

She had fled the town on foot before they were able to locate Phil, who had not made shore at his usual place but at some point up the river about which they knew nothing.

When he finally showed up, it was almost daybreak.
"Where is he now ?" "At home, or ought to be." "Show me the house." In ten minutes the two were face to face.
The result was not altogether satisfactory to the detective.

Though he used all his skill in his manipulation of this kind-hearted ferryman, he got very little from him but the plain fact that the woman insisted upon taking to the road when she heard that the train-service had stopped; that he could not persuade her to wait till daylight or to listen for a moment to what he had to say of the danger and terrors awaiting her in the darkness, and the awful loneliness of the hills.