In New York, before the "_Long Island_" had sailed, Cantor had
met young Tom Denman in a gambling resort. Plying the young man
with liquor, Cantor had persuaded the young man, when unconscious
of what he was doing, to forge a banker's name to two checks,
which Cantor had persuaded an acquaintance of his to cash. Of
course the checks had been refused payment at the bank, but the
man who had cashed them had disappeared.

Cantor had offered to save young Tom Denman. Without involving
himself Cantor could have testified that the young man was all
but unconscious, and without knowledge of his act, when he "forged"
the cheeks.

The bank that had been deceived into cashing the checks before
they were forwarded to the bank upon which they were drawn, had
located Tom Denman easily enough. Tom would have been arrested,
but Mrs. Denman promptly applied to a great detective agency,
which quickly established the young man's mental condition at
the of "forging" the checks. Moreover, Mrs. Denman, after cabling
her husband for authority to use his funds, had made good the
loss to the bank. Then mother, daughter and son had journeyed
hastily to Vera Cruz, that the boy might be under his father's eye.

That one lesson was enough for Tom Denman. He has never strayed
since.

As to the theft of his landing plan, Captain Gales afterward explained
to several of his officers that no such theft had ever taken place.
"You recall, gentlemen," the captain explained, "that I
referred to the envelope which had contained the plans. And I
then stated that the envelope which had contained the plans had
disappeared. You will also remember, perhaps that I didn't state
that the plans themselves were gone, for they rested in my safe,
and are there at this moment. Acting that afternoon on an impulse
that I did not very well understand, I took the landing plans
from their envelope and filled the envelope with blank paper after
having put the plans in the safe.

"Cantor had knowledge of the envelope, and supposed, as any one
would have done, that the plans were inside. When my back was
turned for an instant Cantor took the envelope, which I did not
immediately miss, as I had no idea that any of my officers was
untrustworthy. Cantor hurried to his own quarters, and there
discovered the blank paper substitution. Furious, yet hating
Darrin for reasons which you now understand, Cantor hastened to
Darrin's room and slipped the envelope in unde