ermen ran the boat into the water; Lorrimore and I
sprang in.

"This is the most extraordinary affair I ever heard of," he said as he
sat down at my side in the stern.

"You didn't see all these Chinamen? Miss Raven says that you actually
suspected my man Wing to be on board!"

"Lorrimore," said I, "in ten minutes you'll probably see and learn
things that you'd never have dreamed of. Whether your man Wing is on
board or not I don't know--but I know that that girl and I have had a
marvellous escape from a nest of human devils! I can't say for myself,
but--has my hair whitened?"

"Your hair hasn't whitened," he said. "You were probably safer than
you knew--safe enough, if Wing was there."

"Well, I don't know," I retorted. "In future, let me avoid the sight
of yellow cheeks and slit eyes--I've had enough. But tell me--how did
you and your posse come this way? Didn't Mr. Raven get a wire last
night?"

"Mr. Raven did get a wire," he replied; "but before he got it, he'd
become anxious, and had sent out some of his men folk along the moors
and cliffs in search of you. One of them, very late in the evening,
came across a man who had been cutting wood somewhere hereabouts and
had seen you and Miss Raven passing through the woods near the shore
in company with two strangers. Mr. Raven's man returned close on
midnight, with this news, and the old gentleman was, of course, thrown
into a great state of alarm. He roused the whole community round
Ravensdene Court, got me up, and we set out, as you see. But--the
whole thing's marvellous! I can't help thinking that Wing may have
been on board this vessel, and that it was due to him you got away."

"You've heard nothing of him--from London?" I suggested.

"Nothing, from anywhere," he replied. "Which is precisely why I feel
sure that when he went there he came in contact with these people and
has been playing some deep game."

"Deep, yes!" said I. "Deep indeed! But what game?"

He made no answer; we were now close to the yawl, and he was staring
expectantly at the figures on her deck. Suddenly two of these detached
themselves from the rest, turned, came to the side, looked down on us.
One was a grimy-faced, alert-looking young naval officer, very much
alive to his job; the other, not quite so smoke-blackened, but
eminently business-like, was--Scarterfield.

"Good Heavens!" I muttered. "So--he's here!"

Scarterfield, as we pulled up to the side of the yawl, was evidently
t