that could be discussed in polite society is what he is doing
now at this place, at this moment. For it seems," Gordon
whispered, drawing his chair closer, "that he is about to show
himself something of a man after all, and that he is engaged
in fitting out an armed expedition with which he hopes to
recover his kingdom. That's what brought me here, and I must
say I rather admire him for attempting such a thing. Of
course, it was Kalonay who put him up to it; he would never
have stirred from the boulevards if that young man had not
made him. But he is here, nevertheless, waiting for a
favorable opportunity to sail, and he has ten thousand rifles
and three Maxim guns lying in his yacht out there in the
harbor. That's how I came to learn about it. I was getting
an estimate on an outfit I was thinking of taking into Yucatan
from my old gunsmith in the Rue Scribe, and he dropped a hint
that he had shipped ten thousand rifles to Tangier, to Colonel
Erhaupt. I have met Erhaupt in Zanzibar, and knew he was the
King's right-hand man, so I put two and two together and
decided I would follow them up, and----"

"Yes, and now," interrupted Miss Carson, sharply--"and now
that you have followed them up, what do you mean to do?"

Gordon looked his surprise at her earnestness, but answered
that he did not know what he would do; he thought he would
either ask them to give him a commission in their expedition,
and let him help them fight, and write an account of their
adventures later, or he would telegraph the story at once to
his paper. It was with him, he said, entirely a question as
to which course would be of the greater news value. If he