leaving a cafe in the most friendly and amicable spirit, he
wasted no time in investigation, but hurried at once to warn
the King.

"What we feared would happen, has happened," he said. "The
Frenchman has told Gordon that Zara and Kalonay sold the
secret of the expedition, and Gordon will be coming here to
warn you of it. Now, what are you going to do? We must act
quickly."

"I shall refuse to believe the Frenchman, of course," said the
King. "I shall ask Zara in his presence to answer his
charges, and she will tell him he lies. That is all there
will be of it. What does it matter what he says? We sail at
midnight. We can keep him quiet until then."

"If he is troublesome I can call for help from this room, and
the servants of the hotel and the guards will rush in and find
us struggling together. We will charge him with an attempt at
assassination, and this time he surely will go to jail. By
to-morrow morning we shall be many miles at sea."

"But he can cable to Messina, by way of Gibraltar, and head us
off," objected Barrat.

"What can he cable?" demanded the King. "Nothing the people
of the Republic do not already know. It is our friends here
that must not find us out. That is the main thing. Thank
Heaven!" he exclaimed, "Kalonay and Paul are out of the way,
and those crazy boys from Paris. We will settle it here among