ght that this is going to be easy."

"Oh, no; it will not be easy," he agreed.

But plainly he was confident that it was possible, which I was not. If
there was any one in that ship that doubted, it was I. I said nothing,
however, but remarked that Holgate was a man of resource and capacity.

"I am willing to believe that," he said after a pause. "He is a very
clever scoundrel. Oh, yes."

"We might be in a better position to counter his plans if we fathom
them," I suggested.

He looked at me, interrogation in his blue eyes, which were, and were
not, so like his sister's.

"The question that puzzles me, sir, is why Holgate did not seize the
saloon and the deck below last night when he had the chance--for down
there is what he wants."

"He had us locked up in the chart-house," replied the Prince with
assurance. "He did not anticipate that we should escape; and the yacht
was running into danger."

Yes; that was the explanation that had occurred to me; indeed, it was
the explanation that hitherto we had all accepted. But was it true?

"It was his intention to possess himself of the papers at his leisure,"
continued Prince Frederic, smoking and gazing at me with the air of a
preceptor instructing a pupil.

"Why should he?" I asked bluntly.

The Prince smiled pleasantly. "I will tell you, Dr. Phillimore," he
answered. "When I left London, and Europe, for good, I instructed my
lawyers to put my property into three forms of goods--drafts on
bankers, Bank of England notes, and English currency. Each kind would
be of service to me, whose destination was not quite settled. But these
would make a bulky load for any man. There is a large amount of specie,
and is it not the Bank of England that says, 'Come and carry what gold
you will away in your pockets provided you give us L5,000'? Well, there
is that difficulty for these villains."

"But," I objected, "do they know how the treasure is made up?"

He cast a dark glance at me. "I have told you," he said, "I trust such
as you in my service, doctor. But there has been treachery. Who I am
and what I carry became known. How, I cannot say. But it was treachery.
The whole thing is a conspiracy," he cried, hammering on the table,
"and it may be that my enemies in Hochburg are at the bottom of it. I
will find out. But, see you, doctor, I am Mr. Morland here and
hereafter. Let that be understood, and it is as Mr. Morland I will hang
these ruffians."

His frown knit his eyeb