stion."

Pachmann, with sudden intentness, scanned the other's garments.

"Yes, they, at least, are genuine," laughed Crochard. "The Prince was
most indignant at having to remove them. My heart bled for him--but
there was no other way. Beyond a little tightness across the shoulders,
and a little looseness about the waist, they do very well."

"The Prince is a prisoner?" Pachmann asked.

"A hostage--to be released when I give the word. You should warn him to
choose his cabs more carefully--never, in a strange city, to take the
first that offers!"

"Then," said Pachmann, his face livid, "you have confederates--you are
not alone!"

"I have friends," Crochard assented, "who were happy to oblige me by
taking charge of the Prince. More than that I did not ask of them."

"You mean," asked Pachmann, almost in a whisper, "that you are alone
here?"

"Quite alone, my dear Admiral," Crochard assured him, and smiled
pleasantly.

Pachmann regarded the speaker for another moment; then he drew a deep
breath, and a little colour crept back into his cheeks.

"M. Crochard," he said, "or whatever may be your name, I admire your
dexterity and your daring. I wish Germany possessed a few such men as
you. Nothing, I suppose would tempt you--no wealth, no position?"

"I am a Frenchman, monsieur," answered Crochard, quietly.

Pachmann sighed.

"I see I must abandon that project. I am sorry. For, let me warn you,
all your dexterity, all your daring, cannot get you alive out of this
house. If the Prince is a hostage for your safety, then he must be
sacrificed. So far as my own life is concerned, it is nothing. I have
two men below who, at a shout from me, or at the report of the shot
which kills me, will shoot you down as you attempt to descend the stair.
That is my order. There is from this house but one way out--the door by
which you entered. You may kill me--I shall welcome that!--but you
yourself will infallibly be killed a moment later."

"That may be," said Crochard lightly, "but I am not so sure of it. At
any rate, if M. Vard is ready, I am prepared to make the trial."

"I am ready!" cried the inventor, and sprang to his feet.

Crochard rose and moved the chair from before the door. Pachmann, with a
steady eye, measured the distance between himself and the Frenchman.

But Vard, his eyes blazing, stepped in front of the Admiral.

"So this is your reward!" he sneered. "You, who would have betrayed me,
who would have made