nswered readily.

"Prince Tabnit was commissioned by the Yaquians to acquaint the
princess with the news of the strange disappearance of her father,
the king, and to supplicate her in his place to accept the
hereditary throne of Yaque."

"Jupiter!" said St. George under breath.

In a flash the whole matter was clear to him. Prince Tabnit had
delivered no such message from the people of Yaque, but had
contented himself with the mere intimation that in some vanishing
future she would be expected to ascend the throne. And he had done
this only when Olivia herself had sought him out after an attempt
had been made upon her life by his servant. It seemed to St. George
far from improbable that the woman had been acting under the
prince's instructions and, that failing, he himself had appeared and
obligingly placed the daughter of King Otho precisely within the
prince's power. Now she was gone with him, in the hope of aiding her
father, to meet Heaven knew what peril in this pagan island; and he,
St. George, was wholly to blame from first to last.

"Good Heavens," he groaned, "are you sure--but are you sure?"

"It is simple, adon," said the man, "we came with this message from
the people of Yaque. A day before we were to land, Akko and I--I am
Jarvo--overheard the prince plan with the others to tell her
nothing--nothing that the people desire. When they knew that we had
heard they locked us up and we have only this morning escaped from
the submarine. If the prince has told her this message everything is
well. But as for us, I do not know. The prince has gone."

"He told her nothing--nothing," said St. George, "but that her
father and the Hereditary Treasure have disappeared. And he has
taken her with him. She has gone with him."

Deaf alike to their exclamations and their questions St. George sat
staring unseeingly through the window, his mind an abyss of fear.
Then the cab drew up at the door of his hotel and he turned upon the
two men precipitantly.

"See," he cried, "in a boat on the open sea, would you two be at all
able to direct a course to Yaque?"

Both men smiled suddenly and brilliantly.

"But we have stolen a chart," announced Jarvo with great simplicity,
"not knowing what thing might befall."

St. George wrenched at the handle of the cab door. He had a glimpse
of Amory within, just ringing the elevator bell, and he bundled the
two little men into the lobby and dashed up to him.

"Come on, old Amory,"