irt with
death than a ravishing coquette--though I will not deny his preference
to play the pair.

"Oh, boy!" he now chuckled, giving my arm a squeeze.

As we gathered about the table, Monsieur took a knife and began to press
its blade into the covering of the bomb, saying:

"I have known the builder of one of these to leave his tracks inside,
trusting the explosion to obliterate them. But sometimes the machine
does not go off."

"Let's hope this'll be one of those times," Tommy murmured, "or we'll
pretty well leave our tracks all over the Gulf. Don't use any bad
judgment, Professor. Centuries are looking down at you!"

"I shall try not," he smiled, pushing the blade deeper and giving a
gentle twist.

"I should say he ought to be doing that ashore, sir," Gates whispered.
"Lor' knows this is no place----"

But Monsieur was speaking again.

"The gentleman who left it with us may have used bad judgment by not
exploding it himself. So much the worse for him. Steady!" he grunted,
peeling off another slice of the wrapper. "Yet, if criminals did not
sometimes use bad judgment, a sorry plight would be ours, eh? Moreover,
it is natural that they use bad judgment, for, being criminals, their
judgment is bad--primarily bad, or they would not be criminals."

"Please work without your tongue or talk without your hands," I said,
with a touch of irritation. "That thing's nervous for undivided
attention!"

The professor may not have heard, and in a monotone continued:

"The man who made it knew his business; therefore he is a student of
this type of explosives; therefore a police agent, a--what you
call--crank like myself, or a destroying criminal--that is, an
anarchist. Therefore he is the last named, since neither of the others
would want to blow up a gentleman's yacht. It seems clear to you?" he
asked, without raising his eyes; but none of us cared to divert his
attention by answering.

By now Monsieur had peeled off several pieces of the wrapper, and was
sprawled over the table with a powerful magnifying lens. For some time
he minutely studied them, finally squinting closely at a particular one
and beginning to show increased excitement. Arising and pushing by us,
he went to his many boxes and returned with a small glass-stoppered
bottle. It must have contained an acid; at any rate, he touched a drop
of it to a piece of the inner wrapping, then bent over to watch results.
Finally, with very bright eyes, he looked up