ed figure in front of the
chief steward's door.

"Oh, it's you, is it?" said Mr. Hobbs sullenly.

"It is, Hobbs--very much me. I've been fishing with royalty and chatting
with the nobility. Where the devil have _you_ been?"

"I've been squaring it with old man Fraasch. I'm through with you, sir.
No more for me, not if I know--"

"Come along, Hobbs," said the other blithely, taking Hobbs by the arm.
"The Prince sent his love to you."

"Did he mention Cook's?" gasped Hobbs.

"He certainly did," lied Truxton. "He spoke of you most kindly. He
wondered if you could find time to come around to-morrow."

CHAPTER V

THE COMMITTEE OF TEN

It has been said before that Truxton King was the unsuspecting object of
interest to two sets of watchers. The fact that he was under the
surveillance of the government police, is not surprising when we
consider the evident thoroughness of that department; but that he should
be continually watched by persons of a more sinister cast suggests a
mystery which can be cleared up by visiting a certain underground room,
scarce two blocks from the Tower of Graustark. It goes without saying
that corporeal admittance to this room was not to be obtained easily. In
fact, one must belong to a certain band of individuals; and, in order to
belong to that band, one must have taken a very solemn pledge of eternal
secrecy and a primal oath to devote his life to certain purposes, good
or evil, according to his conscience. By means of the friendly Sesame
that has opened the way for us to the gentler secrets, we are permitted
to enter this forbidding apartment and listen in safety to the ugly
business of the Committee of Ten.

There were two ways of reaching this windowless room, with its low
ceilings and dank airs. If one had the secret in his possession, he
could go down through the mysterious trap door in the workshop of
William Spantz, armourer to the Crown; or he might come up through a
hidden aperture in the walls of the great government sewer, which ran
directly parallel with and far below the walls of the quaint old
building. One could take his choice of direction in approaching this
hole in the huge sewer: he could come up from the river, half a mile
away, or he could come down from the hills above if he had the courage
to drop through one of the intakes.

It is of special significance that the trap door in Spantz's workshop
was reserved for use by the armourer and his more fastidious