ut what is the matter, Dalny? Does the use of
the knife terrify you?"

"No!" replied Dalny, huskily. "I was merely thinking that, if a man
like either Darrin or Dalzell escaped from a knife, after seeing its
flash, and if he suspected me of being behind the attempt, either
young man would be likely to lay hold of me and snap my spine."

"If you are fearful of the chances and of the possible consequences,
Dalny," replied Mender coldly, "you may withdraw."

"No, no, no!" protested Dalny quickly. "You are my chief, Monsieur
Mender, and whatever you wish I shall do."

Mender puffed for a few moments at a Russian cigarette, before he
again spoke.

"Dalny," he said, "you may be sure I do not distrust either your
loyalty or your courage. Go back to your Americans. Detain them as
long as needful at the table, no matter by what arts. Within twenty
minutes I shall have a leader of Neapolitan bravos here, and I shall
have a plan to unfold to him. Then he will go and post his men. You
will receive instructions from me that you cannot mistake. You are
right in fearing Darrin and Dalzell. We can afford to take no chances.
That pair of young American officers shall have no chance of reporting
our presence in Naples to their superior officers. Sooner than permit
the least risk of interference with our plans I shall remove them from
our way."

"Darrin and Dalzell are to be killed, then?" asked Dalny hoarsely.

"They shall be snuffed out," replied Mender, flicking the ash from his
cigarette. "Go, Dalny, and do your part as far as you have heard it
from me. I will attend to the rest. Do not be uneasy."

Dalny made a low bow before his cold-blooded chief, then left the
private room, returning to Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell, whose death,
under the knives of cowardly treachery, he must do his best to help
bring about!

CHAPTER X

TREACHERY HAS THE FLOOR

"You will not have much time for sight-seeing, I am afraid," Count
Surigny was saying, as Monsieur Dalny soft-footedly returned to the
table.

"I do not know how much time we shall have," Dave answered.

"If you have but little time, then it will be most unfortunate," spoke
Dalny softly, with his engaging smile. "Naples is vastly rich in
things that are worth while seeing."

"We are not likely to have the time to see many of them," Darrin
answered.

"That is most unfortunate," replied the Count, in a regretful tone.

"Yet there is a way to partly overcome that mi