orrison to come down and pick
me up in his boat for two reasons--partly because I wanted to keep in
touch with you both, and partly because I thought it might come in
handy to have a second line of retreat."

"It _was_ rather convenient, as things turned out," interposed Tommy.

"Very," admitted Latimer drily. "They got back to the garden just as I
had opened one of the windows, and shot at me from behind the hedge.
If it hadn't been for the light they must have picked me off."

He stopped, and standing up in the well, looked round. By this time we
were again just off the entrance to Queenborough, and the thick haze
that had obscured everything earlier in the evening was rapidly
thinning away. A watery moon showed up the various warships at
anchor--dim grey formless shapes, marked by blurred lights.

"What do you say?" he asked, turning to Tommy. "Shall we run in here
and pick up some moorings? Before we go any further I want to hear
Lyndon's part of the story, and then we all three shall know exactly
where we are. After that you can throw me in the sea, or--or--well, I
think there are several possible alternatives."

"We'll find out anyhow," said Tommy.

He turned the _Betty_ towards the shore, and we worked our way
carefully into the harbour. We ran on past the anchored vessels, until
we were right opposite the Queenborough jetty, where we discovered
some unoccupied moorings which we promptly adopted. It was a snug
berth, and a fairly isolated one--a rakish-looking little gunboat
being our nearest neighbour.

In this pleasant atmosphere of law and order I proceeded to narrate as
briefly and quickly as possible the main facts about my escape and its
results. I felt that we had gone too far now to keep anything back.
Latimer had boldly placed his own cards face upwards on the table, and
short of sending him to the fishes, there seemed to be nothing else
to do except to follow his example. As he himself had said, we should
then at least know exactly how we stood with regard to each other.

He listened to me for the most part in silence, but the few
interruptions that he did make showed the almost fierce attention with
which he was following my story. I don't think his eyes ever left my
face from the first word to the last.

When I had finished he sat on for perhaps a minute without speaking.
Then very deliberately he leaned across and held out his hand.

We exchanged grips, and for once in my life I found a ma