tain Ringgold imagined that the name was spelled in
this manner, though there was a twinkle in the eyes of the speaker.

"General Newry; I never heard of him. One of those Englishmen who have
won their spurs and their fortunes in India, I suppose," added the
visitor.

"Not at all; and he is not even an Englishman."

"Not an Englishman!" exclaimed the puzzled captain. "Is he a Frenchman
with that name?"

"Not even a Frenchman."

"I came on board of the Blanche almost angry enough to break something,
for certain members of my party have been hunted and hounded the whole
length of the Mediterranean; and I am determined to put a stop to it,"
said Captain Ringgold, getting back some of the spirit in which he had
boarded the steamer. "I am of the same mind still."

"You will have no further trouble with your troublesome customer," said
Captain Sharp, with a very agreeable smile.

"How do you know?"

"As the boys say, because I know; I do not guess at it."

"You do not understand the matter."

"I know more about it than you do."

"Do you know Ali-Noury Pacha?"

"I do; intimately."

"Then you know that he is one of the greatest scoundrels that ever went
six months without being hung," said he of the Guardian-Mother warmly.

"There I must beg to differ from you. He may have been what you say in
the past, but he is not in the present," replied he of the Blanche,
quite as decidedly as the other had spoken.

Captain Ringgold proceeded to demonstrate the truth of his remark
concerning the Pacha by relating his experience from Mogadore to
Alexandria, detailing the plots and conspiracies of His Highness and his
agents against the peace and safety of his party. Captain Sharp admitted
the truth of all the attempts to capture Miss Blanche and Louis
Belgrave.

"Then you must admit that he is an unmitigated scoundrel," added Captain
Ringgold.

"Much that you charge to him was the work of his agents."

"He hatched up the conspiracy with Mazagan, for Louis heard every word
of it in the cafe at Gallipoli. The attempt was made in Pournea Bay in
the Archipelago to take Miss Blanche and Louis out of the Maud."

"I grant it; but Mazagan far exceeded his instructions, as he did at
Zante."

"How much money did the Pacha offer Mazagan to obtain the persons
mentioned?"

"Twenty thousand dollars, or a hundred thousand francs; but that is a
bagatelle to him. The Pacha is another man now," added the ex-detective
impressively