ically.

"What beats me," I cried, "is how the deuce you managed to track him
down. Your magnificent intellect, I suppose"--I spoke gently and not in
open sarcasm--"enabled you to get on the trail."

He brightened at the compliment. "Yes, that was it. Listen. I came to
Algiers, the last place he was heard of. I go to the cafes. I listen
like a detective to conversation. I creep behind soldiers talking.
I find out nothing. I ask at the shops. They think I am crazy, but
Anastasius Papadopoulos has a brain larger than theirs. I go to my
old friend the secretary of the theatre, where I have exhibited the
marvellous performance of my cats. I say to him, 'When have you a date
for me?' He says, 'Next year.' I make a note of it. We talk. He knows
all Algiers. I say to him, 'What has become of Captain Vauvenarde of the
Chasseurs d'Afrique?' I say it carelessly as if the Captain were an old
friend of mine. The secretary laughs. 'Haven't you heard? The Captain
was chased from the regiment----'"

"The deuce he was!" I interjected.

"On account of something," said Anastasius. "The secretary could not
tell what. Perhaps he cheated at cards. The officers said so.

"'Where is he now?' I ask. 'Why, in Algiers. He is the most famous
gambler in the town. He is every night at the Cercle Africain, and some
people believe that it belongs to him.' My friend the secretary asks me
why I am so anxious to discover Captain Vauvenarde. I do not betray my
secret. When I do not wish to talk I close my lips, and they are sealed
like the tomb. I am the model of discretion. You, Monsieur, with the
high-bred delicacy of the English statesman, have not questioned me
about my combination. I appreciate it. But, if you had, though it broke
my heart, I should not have answered."

"I am not going to pry into your schemes," I said, "but there are one
or two things I must understand. How do you know the banker was Captain
Vauvenarde?"

"I saw him several times in Marseilles with the _carissima signora_."

"Then how was it he did not recognise you to-night?"

"I was then but an acquaintance of Madame; not her intimate friend,
counsellor, champion, as I am now. I did not have the honour of being
presented to Captain Vauvenarde. I went to-night to make sure of my man,
to play the first card in my gigantic combination--but, alas! But no!"
He rose and thumped his little chest. "I feel my courage coming back.
My will is stiffening into iron. When the _cariss