. 'The mare had been dead more than an hour, and
the brute had been patiently watching me ever since. I never saw the
kill, for I was accustomed to the mare's fretting, and I never marked
her absence, for my consciousness of her was only of something tawny,
and the lion filled that part. If I could blunder thus, gentlemen, in
a land where men's senses are keen, why should we busy preoccupied
urban folk not err also?'

Sir Walter nodded. No one was ready to gainsay him.

'But I don't see,' went on Winstanley. 'Their object was to get these
dispositions without our knowing it. Now it only required one of us to
mention to Alloa our meeting tonight for the whole fraud to be exposed.'

Sir Walter laughed dryly. 'The selection of Alloa shows their acumen.
Which of us was likely to speak to him about tonight? Or was he likely
to open the subject?'

I remembered the First Sea Lord's reputation for taciturnity and
shortness of temper.

'The one thing that puzzles me,' said the General, 'is what good his
visit here would do that spy fellow? He could not carry away several
pages of figures and strange names in his head.'

'That is not difficult,' the Frenchman replied. 'A good spy is trained
to have a photographic memory. Like your own Macaulay. You noticed he
said nothing, but went through these papers again and again. I think
we may assume that he has every detail stamped on his mind. When I was
younger I could do the same trick.'

'Well, I suppose there is nothing for it but to change the plans,' said
Sir Walter ruefully.

Whittaker was looking very glum. 'Did you tell Lord Alloa what has
happened?' he asked. 'No? Well, I can't speak with absolute
assurance, but I'm nearly certain we can't make any serious change
unless we alter the geography of England.'

'Another thing must be said,' it was Royer who spoke. 'I talked freely
when that man was here. I told something of the military plans of my
Government. I was permitted to say so much. But that information
would be worth many millions to our enemies. No, my friends, I see no
other way. The man who came here and his confederates must be taken,
and taken at once.'

'Good God,' I cried, 'and we have not a rag of a clue.'

'Besides,' said Whittaker, 'there is the post. By this time the news
will be on its way.'

'No,' said the Frenchman. 'You do not understand the habits of the
spy. He receives personally his reward, and he delivers persona