the start. He did not know it then, but the dark-skinned
lawyer had always felt, despite his envy and resentment, a certain
respect for his integrity and fearlessness.

He finally agreed to follow the advice of the American; grudgingly, to
be sure, but none the less determined.

"You will find everything as I have stated it, Rasula," said Chase. "I'm
sorry you are against me, for I would be your friend. I've told you how
to reach the secret cave. The chests are there. The passage is closed.
You can trap him in the attempt to rob the bank. I could have taken him
red-handed and given him over to Lord Deppingham. But you would never
have known the truth. Now I ask you to judge for yourselves. Give him a
fair trial, Rasula--as you would any man accused of crime--and be just.
If you need a witness--an eye-witness--call on me. I will come and I
will appear against him. I've been honest with you. I am willing to
trust you to be honest with me."

CHAPTER XXVI

DEPPINGHAM FALLS ILL

That evening Lord Deppingham took to his bed with violent chills. He
shivered and burned by turns and spent a most distressing night. Bobby
Browne came in twice to see him before retiring. For some reason unknown
to any one but himself, Deppingham refused to be treated by the young
man, notwithstanding the fact that Browne laid claim to a physician's
certificate and professed to be especially successful in breaking up
"the ague." Lady Agnes entreated her liege lord to submit to the doses,
but Deppingham was resolute to irascibility.

"A Dover's powder, Deppy, or a few grains of quinine. Please be
sensible. You're just like a child."

"What's in a Dover's powder?" demanded the patient, who had never been
ill in his life.

"Ipecac and opium, sugar of milk or sulphate of potash. It's an anodyne
diaphoretic," said Browne.

"Opium, eh?" came sharply from the couch. "Good Lord, an overdose of it
would--" he checked the words abruptly and gave vent to a nervous fit of
laughter.

"Don't be a fool, George," commanded his wife. "No one is trying to
poison you."

"Who's saying that he's going to poison me?" demanded Deppingham
shortly. "I'm objecting because I don't like the idea of taking medicine
from a man just out of college. Now judge for yourself, Browne: would
you take chances of that sort, away off here where there isn't a
physician nearer than twelve hundred miles? Come now, be frank."

Bobby Browne leaned back and laughed heart