was a well-dressed, rather gentlemanly-looking young
man of about five and twenty.

"Who's that joker, I wonder?" he said to Burr; "not any one living in
Samoa, unless he's a new-comer. Hope he won't stay long--it's eight
o'clock now."

Ten minutes later the steward came to him.

"The captain wishes to see you, sir."

Otway entered the cabin. Robertson, with frowning face, motioned him to
a seat. The strange gentleman sat near the captain smoking a cigar, and
with some papers in his hands.

"Mr. Otway, I have sent for you. This gentleman has a warrant for the
arrest of Mr. Lacy, issued by the New Zealand Government and initialled
by the British Consul here."

Otway rose to the occasion. He nodded to the stranger and sat down
quietly.

"Yes, sir?" he asked inquiringly of Robertson.

"You will please tell my supercargo your business, mister," said the
captain gruffly to the stranger; "he can tell you all you wish to
know--that is, if he cares to do so. I don't see that your warrant holds
any force here in Samoa. You can't execute it. There's no government
here, no police, no anything, and the British Consul can't act on a
warrant issued from New Zealand. It is of no more use in Samoa than it
would be at Cape Horn."

"Now, sir, make haste," said Otway with a mingled and studied insolence
and politeness. He already began to detest the stranger.

"I am a detective of the police force of New Zealand, and I have come
from Auckland to arrest William Barton, alias the Rev. Wilfrid Lacy, on
a charge of stealing twenty thousand, five hundred pounds from the
National Bank of Christchurch, of which he was manager. I believe that
twenty thousand pounds of the money he has stolen is on board this
vessel at this moment, and I now demand access to his cabin."

"Do you? How are you going to enforce your demand, my cocksure friend?"

Otway rose, and placing his two hands on the table, looked insultingly
at the detective. "What rot you are talking, man!"

The detective drew back, alarmed and startled.

"The British Consul has endorsed my warrant to arrest this man," he
said, "and it will go hard with any one who attempts to interfere with
me in the performance of my duty."

Otway shot a quick, triumphant glance at the captain.

"The Consul is, and always was, a silly old ass. You have come on a
fool's errand; and are going on the wrong tack by making threats. That
idiotic warrant of yours is of no more use to you than