luctant eyes of the other, and spared him the
necessary explanation with a question. "Mr. Benton's yacht?" he
inquired.

Karyl nodded. "The yacht."

"I, too, had thought of that, but how can you arrange it, Your Majesty?"

"We must persuade her that she requires a change of scene and that this
is the one way she can have it without conspicuousness. It can be given
out that she has gone to Maritzburg, and I shall tell her"--Karyl smiled
with a cynical humor--"that I am over-weary with this task of Kingship,
and that I shall join her within a few days for a brief truancy from the
cares of state."

"It may be the safest thing," reflected the officer. "It at least frees
our minds of a burdensome anxiety."

"I shall persuade her," declared Karyl. "She can take several
ladies-in-waiting and you can accompany her to the yacht and explain to
Benton. Direct him to cruise within wireless call and to avoid cities
where the Queen might be in danger of recognition. She must remain until
we gain some hint as to when and where the crater is apt to break into
eruption."

Jusseret was busy. His agencies were at work over the peninsula. It was
the sort of conspiracy in which the Frenchman took the keenest
delight--purely a military revolution.

The peasant on the mountains, the agriculturist in his buttressed and
terraced farm, the grape-grower in his vineyard and the artisan and
laborer in Puntal did not know that there was dissatisfaction with the
government.

But in the small army and the smaller bureaucracy there was plotting and
undermining. Subtle and devious temptations were employed. Captains saw
before them the shoulder straps of the major, lieutenants the insignia
of the captain, privates the chevrons of the sergeant.

Meanwhile, from a town in southerly Europe, near the Galavian frontier,
Monsieur Jusseret in person was alertly watching.

Martin, the "English Jackal," much depleted in fortune, drifting before
vagabond winds and hailing last from Malta, learned of the Frenchman's
seemingly empty programme. Since his dismissal by the Countess, there
had been no employer for his unscrupulous talents. Now he needed funds.
Where Jusseret operated there might be work in his particular line. He
knew that when this man seemed most idle he was often most busy. Martin
had come to a near-by point by chance. He went on to Jusseret's town,
and then to his hotel, with the same surety and motive that directs the
vulture to its c