not show up. Some doubted his presence in Damietta, but
the superior officer of the city felt that courtesy demanded that Maxx
should report to him before trying to follow up any trail of his own. If
he was with us, he was so effectually disguised that no one suspected his
identity.

"I wonder whether that seedy, tramp-like fellow who stole the cipher
dispatch, can be Detective Maxx?" said Ben to me on Wednesday night
before he started for home.

"It is not impossible," I answered, "for detectives are forced to assume
all manner of disguises. He may have chosen to stroll about the city in
that make-up."

"But if it is the detective, why did he go to all the trouble of copying
off the telegram by sound when he could have got it from us with the
translation merely by making himself known?"

"I admit that, if he is a detective, he acts, in my judgment, in a very
unprofessional way. He was so persistent in his attentions that he must
have known he was sure to draw unpleasant, if not dangerous suspicion, to
himself."

"Do you know," said Ben, with a meaning smile, "that I half believe this
stranger and Burkhill are partners? They have been here at the same time,
they show interest in the same thing, and like enough are working out the
same scheme of robbery."

This had never occurred to me, and I was struck with its reasonableness,
when I came to think it over. The ill-favored individual signed the name
"John Browning" to the dispatch which he sent some months before, as a
pretext for visiting our office so much--but that was clearly an alias.

"Well," said I, "it is all conjecture any way. With the ample warning the
authorities have received, I do not believe there is the slightest
prospect of a robbery being committed. I intend to retire to-morrow night
at my usual hour with little fear of my slumbers being disturbed."

A few minutes after, we bade each other good-night, and wended our way
quietly homeward.

My experience was singular, after parting with my young friend--not
meaning to imply that anything unusual occurred to me; but the mental
processes to which I was subjected that evening, in the light of
subsequent events, were very peculiar, to say the least.

I am convinced that the inciting cause was the remark made by Ben
Mayberry to the effect that he believed the seedy individual was a
confederate of Burkhill, and that the two were perfecting a scheme for
robbing one of the banks--most likely the Mech