ir would result
from Fritzi Baroff's reappearance in the world, and be on hand to
disarm whatever further suspicions would result from it. The lights
in the rose room that last night and the used look of the room,
puzzled Billy, but he concluded that the Captain liked the room and
there was a good deal in that palace that had better be left to no
imagination whatever.

So back to the hotel went Billy to enter upon a period of waiting
that frayed his nerves to an utter frazzle. Inaction was horrible to
him, and now it was inevitable. He must wait for word from that
agile web of little spies which the one-eyed man was weaving about
the Captain's palace, and be ready to start whenever the word came.

He slept with his clothes on that Monday night, but he slept heavily
for he was tired and his arm was no longer painful. The tear of
wound he called a scratch was healing swiftly.

Tuesday morning passed in the same maddening suspense. Captain
Kerissen rode out that morning but only to the parade ground, where
he took part in a review with his troops. It was noticed that his
right hand was bandaged, but the injury could not have been severe
for his thumb was free from the bandage and he occasionally used
that hand upon the reins. It was the bright eyes of the Imp that
were sure of that.

In the afternoon the Captain went again to the barracks and then to
the palace of one of the colonels in his regiment. Then he went
home.

Utterly disgusted with this waiting game Billy began to dress for
dinner. All lathered for a shave he stood testing his razor on a
hair when his unlocked door was violently opened and a panting
little figure darted across to him. It was the Imp.

"Sir, he goes, he goes upon the minute," he panted out. "He is in
the station. Quick!"

Like a streak of lathered lightening Billy went for his clothes. A
centipede could have been no more active. He jerked up his
suspenders; he jerked on a shirt; he jerked on a coat; he was wiping
his face as he darted through the halls and down the stairs. No lift
had speed enough for his descent. At the desk he flung some gold
pieces at the clerk, cried something about being called out of the
city, and asked to have his room kept; then he was down the steps
and into the carriage that the Imp had magically summoned.

The drive to the station was a series of escapes. Between jolts the
Imp gasped out the rest of the story. The Captain had ridden out in
the automobile. T