would naturally trust you, rather than a
stranger."

"Of course," answered Jack, "that is only natural, and I can quite
understand it. Nevertheless I will not give you an answer at present;
you must have sufficient time to think the matter over at leisure, and
perhaps while doing so you may hit upon some alternative scheme that
will suit you better. Meanwhile, let me tell you of a little adventure
that I had this afternoon, just after I had parted from you, Carlos--and
its continuation this evening. It will perhaps interest you, for I am
greatly mistaken if it does not concern you both, even more than it does
me."

And therewith Jack proceeded to give a humorous relation of his two
encounters with the foreign-looking gentleman claiming to be one of the
Mackintoshes of Inveraray. When at length he finished, father and son
looked at each other with glances of alarm, and simultaneously
exclaimed:

"Now, who can that possibly be?"

"Your description of the man does not in the least degree suggest any
particular individual to me," continued Don Hermoso; "but that, of
course, is not surprising, for a man must have a singularly striking
personality to allow of his being identified from verbal description
only. But let him be who he may, I am quite disposed to agree with you
that his object in accosting you this afternoon was to enable him to
familiarise himself with your personal appearance; while the fact that
you caught him watching the hotel this evening would seem to indicate
that our presence in London is known, and that our visit is regarded
with a certain amount of suspicion. This only strengthens my conviction
that your aid, my dear Senor Singleton, will be of the greatest value to
us, if we can succeed in persuading you to give it."

Don Hermoso's manner was such as to leave no room for doubt in the mind
of Singleton as to the sincerity of the Cuban, while the latter and his
son were easily able to see that their proposal strongly appealed to the
adventurous spirit of the young Englishman: it is therefore not
surprising that ere they parted that evening Singleton had definitely
agreed to become, for the time being, the apparent owner of the new
steam-yacht, and to take part in the gun-running adventure; also
agreeing to take along with him the working model of his submarine,
which all three were of opinion might be found exceedingly useful, while
the service upon which they were about to engage would affor