we
were set upon here, by the gang. We were retreating, when I dropped.
Lord Bakefield and Isabel fell back on the _Queen Mary_, where it
would have been easier for them to defend themselves. Rolleston and
his men were not firing at them, however."

"Rolleston?" echoed Simon.

"A cousin of mine . . . Wilfred Rolleston, a damned brute, capable of
anything . . . a scoundrel . . . a crook . . . oh, a madman! A real
madman . . . a dipsomaniac. . . ."

"And he's like you in appearance isn't he?" asked Simon, understanding
the mistake that had been made.

"I suppose so."

"And it was to steal the miniature and the pearls that he attacked
you?"

"That . . . and something else that he's even more keen on."

"What?"

"He's in love with Isabel. He asked her to marry him at a time when he
hadn't fallen so low. Then Bakefield kicked him out."

"Oh, it would be too awful," stammered Simon, "if that man had
succeeded in kidnapping Isabel!"

He stood up. Rolleston, exhausted, said:

"Save her, Simon."

"But you, Ted? We can't leave you. . . ."

"She comes first. He has sworn to have his revenge; he has sworn that
Isabel shall be his wife."

"But what are we to do? Where are we to look for her?" cried Simon, in
despair.

At that moment Jim came up, all out of breath. He was followed by a
man whom Simon at once recognized as a groom in Lord Bakefield's
service.

"The bloke!" cried Jim. "The one what looked after the horses. . . . I
found him among the rocks . . . d'you see? Over there? They'd tied him
up and the horses were tied up in a sort of cave like. . . ."

Simon lost no time:

"Miss Bakefield?"

"Carried off," replied the man. "Carried off . . . and his lordship as
well."

"Ah!" cried Simon, overwhelmed.

The man continued:

"Rolleston is their leader, Wilfred Rolleston. He came up to me this
morning at sunrise, as I was seeing to the horses, and asked me if
Lord Bakefield was still there. Then, without waiting for an answer,
he knocked me flat, with the help of his men, and had me carried here,
where they laid an ambush for his lordship. They didn't mind what they
said before me; and I learnt that Mr. Williams, the secretary, and
Charles, my fellow-servant, who were to have joined us and increased
the escort, had been attacked by them and, most likely, killed. I
learnt too that Rolleston's idea was to keep Miss Bakefield as a
hostage and to send his lordship to his Paris banker's to get the
ran