uffer from the same disadvantages as other sailing
vessels, and it might have been supposed that the Count d'Artigas
would have preferred a steam-yacht with which he could have gone
anywhere, at any time, in any weather. But apparently he was satisfied
to stick to the old method, even when he made his long trips across
the Atlantic.

On this particular morning the wind was blowing gently from the west,
which was very favorable to the _Ebba_, and would enable her to stand
straight out of the Neuse, across Pamlico Sound, and through one of
the inlets that led to the open sea.

At ten o'clock the _Ebba_ was still rocking lazily at anchor, her stem
up stream and her cable tautened by the rapidly ebbing tide. The small
buoy that on the previous evening had been moored near the schooner
was no longer to be seen, and had doubtless been hoisted in.

Suddenly a gun boomed out and a slight wreath of white smoke arose
from the battery. It was answered by other reports from the guns on
the chain of islands along the coast.

At this moment the Count d'Artigas and Engineer Serko appeared on
deck. Captain Spade went to meet them.

"Guns barking," he said laconically.

"We expected it," replied Serko, shrugging his shoulders. "They are
signals to close the passes."

"What has that to do with us?" asked the Count d'Artigas quietly.

"Nothing at all," said the engineer.

They all, of course, knew that the alarm-guns indicated that the
disappearance of Thomas Roch and the warder Gaydon from Healthful
House had been discovered.

At daybreak the doctor had gone to Pavilion No. 17 to see how
his patient had passed the night, and had found no one there. He
immediately notified the director, who had the grounds thoroughly
searched. It was then discovered that the door in rear of the park was
unbolted, and that, though locked, the key had been taken away. It was
evident that Roch and his attendant had been carried out that way. But
who were the kidnappers? No one could possibly imagine. All that could
be ascertained was that at half-past seven on the previous night one
of the doctors had attended Thomas Roch, who was suffering from one of
his fits, and that when the medical man had left him the invalid was
in an unconscious condition. What had happened after the doctor took
leave of Gaydon at the end of the garden-path could not even be
conjectured.

The news of the disappearance was telegraphed to New Berne, and thence
to Raleig