s--well, the worm could turn.

He moved toward the door. Yes, he would go, and quickly.

"If you value your skin and your employment!" So that was it--a
threat! He would show this high-handed captain that Martin Blake would
risk his skin as readily as the next man; and as for his employment--a
fig for Smatt, and Dr. Ichi, and all their ilk! They were crooks; this
Carew was a crook. They held that girl against her will. It was all a
piece of some dirty, crooked work. Well, the police....

"God, what treachery is this!"

The booming sentence arrested Martin at the door. He lifted his hand
from the knob and turned to the voice. Carew, his face convulsed with
passion, was regarding him.

"What does this mean?" cried Carew. He shook a handful of papers at
Martin. "Come back here, you! Explain this beastly trick!"

Martin went back. He noticed, as he drew close to the other, that the
envelope he had given the captain lay empty and torn on the table.

"Well, what is it? What trick?" he demanded shortly.

"What trick!" mimicked Carew. "Look here. Is this what you were to
deliver to me?"

He thrust the sheaf of papers beneath Martin's nose. They were sheets
of blank, white paper, and they had been creased by folding.

"This is what that precious envelope contained," continued Carew.
"Tell me, what ---- foolery is this? Where is that code translation?
Where are my instructions? Where are my clearance papers? Hey--you
staring fool!"

"Stop that!" flared Martin. "You moderate your tone when you speak to
me! If you have any complaint to make about the contents of that
envelope, make them to Josiah Smatt, and that Dr. Ichi. I know nothing
about the contents. The envelope was given to me sealed, and I
delivered it to you sealed."

"It has been tampered with," declared Carew.

"It has not," asserted Martin. "I have had it in my pocket, on my
person, since Smatt gave it to me. I delivered it to you with the
contents intact. If you found those blank sheets within, they were
placed there before I received the envelope."

Carew favored Martin with a steely and searching stare; and Martin,
ablaze with resentment, stared boldly back. Martin's bearing, and his
positive statements, evidently impressed the captain.

"You had better take the matter up with the men who sent me here," said
Martin. "I have finished with my part of the affair. I wish to go."

"You are jolly well right I'll take the ma