al
manoeuvres around the North coast, that he had a flotilla of submarines,
and that the point of ocean where the pirates met the _Flora Macdonald_
was not far west of the Orkneys.

On deck Bude asked Merton how Logan (for he knew that Logan was the
guiding spirit) had guessed the secret of the submarine.

'Do you remember,' said Merton, 'that when you came back from "The Seven
Hunters," you reported that the fishermen had a silly story of seeing a
dragon flying above the empty sea?'

'I remember, _un dragon volant_,' said Bude.

'And Logan asked you not to tell Mr. Macrae?'

'Yes, but I don't understand.'

'A dragon is the Scotch word for a kite--not the bird--a boy's kite. You
did not know; _I_ did not know, but Mr. Macrae would have known, being a
Scot, and Logan wanted to keep his plan dark, and the kite had let him
into the secret of the submarine.'

'I still don't see how.'

'Why the submarine must have been flying a kite, with a pendent wire, to
catch messages from Blake and the wireless machine at Castle Skrae. How
else could a kite--"a dragon," the sailor said--have been flying above
the empty sea?'

'Logan is rather sharp,' said Bude.

'But, Mr. Macrae,' asked Merton, 'how about the false Gianesi?'

'Oh, when Gianesi came of course we settled _his_ business. We had him
tight, as a conspirator. He had been met, when expelled for misdeeds
from Gianesi's and Giambresi's, by a beautiful young man, to whom he sold
himself. He believed the beautiful young man to be the devil, but, of
course, it was our friend Blake. _He_, in turn, must have been purchased
by Van Huytens while he was lecturing in America as a poet-Fenian. In
fact, he really had a singular genius for electric engineering; he had
done very well at some German university. But he was a fellow of no
principle! We are well quit of a rogue. I turned his unlucky victim,
the false Gianesi, loose, with money enough for life to keep him honest
if he chooses. His pension stops if ever a word of the method of rescue
comes out. The same with my crew. They shall all be rich men, for their
station, _till_ the tale is whispered and reaches my ears. In that
case--all pensions stop. I think we can trust the crew of the friendly
submarine to keep their own counsel.'

'Certainly!' said Merton. 'Wealth has its uses after all,' he thought in
his heart.

* * * * * *

Merton and Logan gave a farewell dinner in autumn to the Disentanglers--to