ou can't expect me to believe that the Emperor sent you
all the way to Salissa to write poetry in a cave."

"There was no poetry. The Emperor's orders were not about poetry. They
were about----"

Von Moll stopped abruptly and winked at Gorman with drunken solemnity.

"I don't give your Emperor credit for much intelligence," said Gorman,
"but he must surely have more sense than to give orders of any kind
about a cave in an out-of-the-way potty little island like this. Why
can't you tell the truth, von Moll?"

Von Moll straightened himself in his chair and glared at Gorman. His
eyes were wide open, so wide that a rim of white showed all round the
pupils. His forehead was deeply wrinkled. His nostrils were distended.

"_Gott in Himmel!_" he said, "you doubt my word."

Gorman chuckled. Von Moll was decidedly amusing when partially drunk.
His glare--he continued to glare in the most ferocious manner--was a
most exciting thing to see.

"There is no use looking at me like that," said Gorman. "I shan't
fight. I never do. I'm not that kind of man. The fact is I don't like
fighting."

"I believe it," said von Moll.

He spoke with a sneer, a heavily accentuated sneer. It was more like
the sneer of the villain of old-fashioned melodrama than anything
Gorman had ever seen.

"If you want a scrap," said Gorman, "really want it, you know, you
ought to knock up Phillips on your way back to your boat. He's the
first officer of the _Ida_. He'll take you on. He's six foot one and
weighs about fourteen stone. He'll simply wipe the floor with you; so
unless you're really keen on fighting some one you'd perhaps better
leave him alone."

"I stay here no longer," said von Moll.

He rose and crossed the room quite steadily, but putting his feet
down with extreme care. He reached the door and bowed to Gorman.

Gorman leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar. He had enjoyed the
evening. He had also found out something that he wanted to know. The
Emperor really did intend to make use of the island of Salissa in some
way. He wondered whether the cave which the Queen had been forbidden
to enter was the same cave which contained the iron cisterns.

The Queen, sitting at her window, heard von Moll leave the house and
go down the steps towards the landing place. Smith was with him,
seeing him safely to the boat which waited for him.

"So," said von Moll, "I telegraph to Berlin and I forward your
letters."

He spoke in German, but he