he nearest thing he could get to the ark of
the patriarch Noah."

The argument was sound; but Gorman was not inclined to think that the
Emperor was paying a visit to Salissa in person. He was just going to
say so when Smith came on to the balcony. He carried a pair of field
glasses in his hand, which he laid on the table beside Donovan's
chair.

"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "I brought up the glasses thinking you
might want to look at the strange steamer."

"Do you know the flag, Smith?" asked Gorman.

"No, sir, can't say I do. But she looks like a foreigner. Not English.
Shall you want anything more, sir?"

Gorman did not at the moment want anything which Smith would supply.
He wanted information, but it was useless to ask for that. Smith, who
seemed uninterested in the steamer, left the balcony.

Donovan gazed at the steamer through the glasses.

"Well," he said, "if it's not an Emperor, it's the next thing. That's
our little friend Konrad Karl standing on the deck."

He handed the glasses to Gorman.

King Konrad Karl stood beside the gun on the after-deck of the
steamer. He looked neat and cool. He was dressed with care in
well-fitting light grey clothes, a soft grey hat and white shoes. The
glasses were powerful. Gorman could even see that he wore a pale mauve
tie.

"I'm pleased to see that monarch," said Donovan. "He seemed to me less
starched than most members of your aristocracies when I met him in
London. Where's Daisy? She'll be sorry if she misses the opportunity
of welcoming a fellow monarch to her shores."

"I'm afraid," said Gorman, "that she's off at the far side of the
island. She told me this morning that she was going over there to plan
out an electric power station. There's a waterfall somewhere. I
haven't seen it myself. The Queen's idea is to make use of it to light
the island."

Donovan took up the glasses when Gorman laid them down. He watched the
steamer.

"The King is wasting no time," he said. "He's coming ashore right now.
They're lowering a boat. I wonder what brings him here."

"He's probably come to persuade you to give the island back to him,
re-sell it."

"That deal," said Donovan, "is closed. I'll be obliged to you, Gorman,
if you'll make that plain to him."

"I expect the Emperor has sent him."

"I'd expect some pretty lively bidding," said Donovan, "with the
Emperor and a king in the ring, if the island was up for auction. But
it's not. I'm not going back on my bar