swered the master, with more feeling than he was in the habit of
displaying. "You have guessed my motive precisely. It was for Hibbert's
sake--the son of the sister I loved--that I kept on friendly terms with
Zuker. But my duty to Hibbert--my love for him--did not make me blind to
the interests of my country. All along I have been in communication with
the Moncriefs. It was I who first communicated with Mr. Henry Moncrief,
in cipher, the information of Zuker's arrival in England. It was
arranged, however, that Zuker was to be allowed to develop his plans,
along with his confederates, before any action was taken to checkmate
him. The Admiralty wished to obtain complete information of all the
details of the scheme, and I alone was in the position of giving it
them. First of all, however, I made my terms with the Admiralty. They
were these: When Zuker's plans were developed, they were at liberty to
take what action they pleased to counteract those plans, and arrest any
accomplice who might be engaged in work with Zuker, but I made this
proviso, that no step should be taken to arrest Zuker himself, without
my knowledge and sanction. Furthermore, that in return for the
information I was able to furnish as to every detail of the plot, I was
to be permitted in the last resort to warn Zuker, so that he might
escape to his native country, if he cared to.

"In that interview you overheard, I made my first strong appeal to him.
Unfortunately it was not successful, and worse than that, he became
suspicious of me. The death of dear little Hibbert took away the only
link that bound me to Zuker. One or two of his confederates were
arrested, and he himself became conscious that the net was closing round
himself. Your appearance in his hiding-place must have brought that home
to him. What happened after that I can only guess. I have two
theories--the first, that, in escaping by the river, he might have taken
refuge for a time on the old battleship, and was in hiding at the time
when the fire broke out. The other theory is that, recognizing that his
schemes had been a complete failure, he deliberately set fire to the
ship, and perished in the flames. He who knows the motives as well as
the actions of all men, will alone know which of these theories is the
right one. God be merciful to him, as to me, miserable sinner."

Mr. Weevil stood with bowed head. And as he breathed, thus reverently,
the response he had so often heard, Paul felt his