the return of Clodoche, heard a
dull, whirring sound that was unmistakably the purr of a motor throb
through the stillness, and, leaning forward, saw a limousine whirl up
out of the darkness, cut across the square, and like a flash dash off
westward. Yet in the brief instant it took to go past the place where he
waited there was time for him to catch the sharp click of a lowered
window, see the clear outlines of a man's face looking out, and to hear
a voice from within the vehicle speak.

"Herr Count," it said in clear, incisive tones. "A positively infallible
recipe for the invasion of England: Wait until the Channel freezes and
then skate over. Good-night!"

CHAPTER III

THE RIDDLE OF THE SACRED SON

Had I followed my own inclination in the matter, I think I should have
elected to call this particular adventure "The Riddle of the Amazing
Demi-God," but as it is set down under the above title in the private
note-book of Superintendent Narkom--to which volume I am under
obligation for the details regarding the life and work of this most
marvellous man--it follows that I must adhere closely to the recorded
facts of each of his adventures, even to the most minute particular, if
I am to prove myself worthy of the favour Mr. Narkom has shown me. I may
freely confess, however, that I have not at all times adhered to the
chronological sequence of those adventures, but have picked and chosen
here and there from the record of his amazing career such cases as I
have fancied most likely to appeal to the public at large, without
regard to their natural order of succession or the many others that have
intervened.

As Superintendent Narkom's records cover a number of years and embrace
upward of three hundred adventures, obviously some must, of necessity,
be omitted from these chronicles. Such omission sometimes--as in the
present instance--renders it compulsory to record a few after facts
connected with the adventure last detailed, in order that the reader may
not be confused by the reappearance of certain persons under
circumstances and in places widely separated from those in which they
were left.

More than a year had passed since the affair of "The Red Crawl," when
the events now to be told occurred, and while that year was fruitful of
many stirring things so far as Cleek himself was concerned, but little
record is obtainable of the movements of Margot and the man Merode, the
two foremost figures in the Apache b