ndescend to continue
his compliment we may as well make the most of it."

"You're a cool hand, Phillimore," said Barraclough, now with the good
temper of one who has triumphed.

"But none so cool as Holgate," I returned him in the same spirit, "for
he has just warned me that his reasons for not attacking us are at an
end." He regarded me interrogatively. "Holgate is not only a cool hand,
but a cunning hand, a far-reasoning hand. He has let us take care of
his treasure until he was ready for it."

"What do you mean?" asked Barraclough in astonishment.

"His men might have become demoralised if he had seized the safe. He
has, therefore, feigned to them that it was not practicable. That has
been his reason for our security--not tender mercy for us, you may
guess. So we have kept his treasure safe, and now--he wants it."

"Why now?" queried Barraclough, who frowned.

"That's Holgate's secret. I suppose he knows what he is going to do and
what destination he wants. We don't. Anyway, we're turning through
Magellan to-night, and he has no further use for us."

"I wish I'd shot that fiend to-day," said Barraclough savagely.

Mademoiselle looked from one to the other, a curious expression on her
face.

"He is a remarkable man, this 'Olgate?" she asked.

"He is--pardon, Mademoiselle--the devil," said Barraclough.

She laughed her fluting laughter. "Oh, but the devil may be perhaps
converted," she said. "He may be tamed. You say music have powers to
tame the savage breast." She tapped her bosom dramatically, and smiled.
"There is many men that may be tamed."

She cast a soft glance at Barraclough and then at me.

But I only got the edge of it, for at that moment I caught sight of a
gray face, with little tufts of whisker under the ears, and glancing
glasses that hung over the railings of the music balcony above. It was
Pye. Had he been there long in the darkness or had he only just
arrived, attracted by the light and the voices? The latter seemed the
more probable assumption, for as I looked up he made an awkward
movement as if he was embarrassed at being discovered. Yet if he had
been eavesdropping, where was the harm? But somehow I felt annoyed. The
others followed my glance, but the clerk had gone.

Mademoiselle Trebizond sighed and put her small hand over her mouth to
hide a yawn.

"It is so what you call dull, Sir John," she protested in her
coquettish way. "Nothing but sea, sea, and not even the chance to g