looked uncertainly about, then with perceptible
exertion of will power collected herself, stood away from the partition
and picked up the carafe.

Lanyard adopted the sensible suggestion of Phinuit, dropping on a knee
to rest his hand above the heart of Popinot. To his complete
satisfaction, if not at all to his surprise, no least flutter of life
was to be detected in that barrel-like chest.

A moment longer he lingered, looking the corpse over with inquisitive
eyes. No sign that he could see suggested that Popinot had suffered
hardship during his two weeks of close sequestration; he seemed to have
fared well as to food and drink, and his clothing, if nothing to boast
of in respect of cut or cloth, and though wrinkled and stretched with
constant wear, was tolerably clean--unstained by bilge, grease, or coal
smuts, as it must have been had the man been hiding in the hold or
bunkers, those traditional refuges of your simon-pure stowaway.

No: Monsieur Popinot had been well taken care of--and Lanyard could
name an officer of prestige ponderable enough to secure his quarters,
wherein presumably Popinot had lain perdu, against search when the
yacht has been "turned inside out," according to its commander.

So this was the source of Mr. Mussey's exact understanding of the
business!

As to the question of how the Apache had been smuggled aboard, and
when, Lanyard never learned the truth. Circumstances were to prevent
his interrogating Mr. Mussey, and he could only assume that--since
Popinot could hardly have been in the motor car wrecked on the road
from Paris--he must have left that pursuit to trusted confreres, and,
anticipating their possible failure, have hurried on to Cherbourg by
another route to make precautionary arrangements with Mr. Mussey.

Ah, well! no fault could be found with the fellow for lack of
determination and tenacity. On the point of rising, Lanyard
reconsidered and, bending over the body, ran clever hands rapidly
through the clothing, turning out every pocket and heaping the
miscellany of rubbish thus brought to light upon the floor--with a
single exception; Popinot had possessed a pistol, an excellent
automatic. Why he hadn't used it to protect himself, Heaven only knew.
Presumably he had been too thoroughly engrossed in the exercise of his
favourite sport to think of the weapon up to the time when Phinuit had
opened fire on him; and then, thrown into panic, he had been able to
entertain one thou