he know of me?'

'Oh, I may have mentioned your name,' he explained indifferently, and
Conway smiled.

'Besides,' said Conway, 'the _Meteor_ has transformed you into a public
character. One knows of your movements.'

'What I don't see is how Miss Le Mesurier could have known that you had
landed yesterday,' commented Mallinson.

'I was interviewed by the _Meteor_ on Plymouth Quay. You received the
note, you say, this evening. She may have seen the interview.'

Drake called to a waiter and ordered him to bring a copy of the paper.
Conway took it and glanced at the first page.

'Yes, here it is.'

He read a few lines to himself, and burst into a laugh.

'Guess how it begins?'

'I know,' said Drake.

'A sovereign you don't.'

Drake laid a sovereign on the table. Conway followed his example.

'It begins,' said Drake, 'with a Latin quotation, _O si sic omnes_!'

'It begins,' corrected Conway, pocketing the money, 'with very downright
English'; and he read, 'Drake, with the casual indifference of the
hardened filibuster, readily accorded an interview to our representative
on landing from the _Dunrobin Castle_ yesterday afternoon!'

Drake snatched the paper out of Conway's hand, and ran his eye down the
column to see whether his words had been similarly transmuted by the
editorial alchemy. They were printed, however, as they had been spoken,
but interspersed with comments. The editor had contented himself with
stamping his own device upon the coin; he had not tried to change its
metal. Drake tossed the paper on one side. 'The man goes vitriol-throwing
with vinegar,' he said.

Conway picked up the _Meteor_.

'You are a captain, aren't you?' he asked. 'The omission of the title
presumes you a criminal.'

'I don't object to the omission,' replied Drake. 'I suppose the title
belongs to me by right. But, after all, a captain in Matanga! There are
more honourable titles.'

Mallinson looked at him suddenly, as though some fresh idea had shot into
his brain.

'Well, will you come?' he asked carelessly.

'I hardly feel inclined to move.'

'I didn't imagine you would.' There was evidence of distinct relief in
the brisk tone of Mallinson's voice. He turned to Conway, 'We ought to be
starting, I fancy.'

'I shall stay with Drake,' Conway answered, despondently to Drake's
thinking, and he lapsed into silence after Mallinson's departure, broken
by intervals of ineffective sarcasm concerning women, ineffectively