all."

"Oh, I beg pardon," cried Cleopatra, rapping for order. "I had forgotten
all about our committees. Excuse me, Delilah. I--ah--was absorbed in other
matters. Will you kindly lay your pattern--I should say your plan--before
us?"

"It is briefly this," said Delilah. "It has been suggested that we invite
the crew of this vessel to a chafing-dish party, under the supervision of
Lucretia Borgia, and that she--"

The balance of the plan was not outlined, for at this point the speaker
was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door, its instant opening, and
the appearance in the doorway of that ill-visaged ruffian Captain Kidd.

"Ladies," he began, "I have come here to explain to you the situation in
which you find yourselves. Have I your permission to speak?"

The ladies started back, but the chairman was equal to the occasion.

"Go on," said Cleopatra, with queenly dignity, turning to the interloper;
and the pirate proceeded to take the second step in the nefarious plan
upon which he and his brother ruffians had agreed, of which the tossing in
through the window of the bundle of fashion papers was the first.

VII

THE "GEHENNA" IS CHARTERED

It was about twenty-four hours after the events narrated in the preceding
chapters that Mr. Sherlock Holmes assumed command of the _Gehenna_, which
was nothing more nor less than the shadow of the ill-starred ocean
steamship _City of Chicago_, which tried some years ago to reach Liverpool
by taking the overland route through Ireland, fortunately without
detriment to her passengers or crew, who had the pleasure of the
experience of shipwreck without any of the discomforts of drowning. As
will be remembered, the obstructionist nature of the Irish soil prevented
the _City of Chicago_ from proceeding farther inland than was necessary to
keep her well balanced amidships upon a convenient and not too stony bed;
and that after a brief sojourn on the rocks she was finally disposed of to
the Styx Navigation Company, under which title Charon had had himself
incorporated, is a matter of nautical history. The change of name to the
_Gehenna_ was the act of Charon himself, and was prompted, no doubt, by a
desire to soften the jealous prejudices of the residents of the Stygian
capital against the flourishing and ever-growing metropolis of Illinois.

The Associated Shades had had some trouble in getting this craft. Charon,
through his constant association with life on both sides o