event that you proved unreasonable, we concluded it would be wise to
have our own people aboard and take the vessel away from you. I admit
we tried to trick you with the cablegrams. Why attempt to conceal the
fact now? That was unsportsmanlike. However, if the fat is in the
fire, as you Americans would say, you have put it there by forcing my
hand."

"Very cleverly done," quoth Michael J. Murphy. "I always admire
brains wherever I find them."

"Men in my line of endeavor are trained to provide for all conceivable
emergencies, captain. I think I provided for all of them in the case
under discussion. Who, for instance, would conceive that you would
have taken the trouble to call upon the American consul for the cipher
message that has caused all this unpleasant row and facial
disfigurement?"

"You have read the translation, of course?"

"Naturally."

"It is self-explanatory. You intend delivering my cargo somewhere off
the south coast of Uruguay. May I be pardoned for expressing some
curiosity as to your plans thereafter, my piratical friend?"

"Please do not call me your piratical friend."

"Well, you're a pirate, aren't you?"

"Legally--yes. Morally--no. In times of national necessity one's