. THE DEVIL'S AUCTION 192

XXI. THE FUNERAL 199

XXII. A PERILOUS MOMENT 210

XXIII. A RESURRECTION AND A GHOST 217

XXIV. A SECRET EXECUTION 224

XXV. A CHANGE OF IDENTITY 233

XXVI. TRAPPED 240

XXVII. THE BALTIC FLEET 246

XXVIII. ON THE TRACK 256

XXIX. AN IMPERIAL FANATIC 264

XXX. THE STOLEN SUBMARINE 272

XXXI. THE KIEL CANAL 279

XXXII. THE DOGGER BANK 287

XXXIII. TRAFALGAR DAY 292

XXXIV. THE FAMILY STATUTE 300

EPILOGUE 308

The International Spy

PROLOGUE[A]

THE TWO EMPRESSES

[Footnote A: The author desires to state that this history should be
read as a work of imagination simply, and not as authentic.]

"Look!"

A fair, delicately-molded hand, on which glittered gems worth a
raja's loyalty, was extended in the direction of the sea.

Half a mile out, where the light ripples melted away into a blue and
white haze upon the water, a small black smudge, like the back of a
porpoise, seemed to be sliding along the surface.

But it was not a porpoise, for out of it there rose a thin, black
shaft, scarcely higher than a flag-staff, and from the top of this
thin shaft there trickled a faint wreathing line of smoke, just
visible against the background of sky and sea.

"It is a submarine! What is it doing there?"

The exclamation, followed by the question, came from the second,
perhaps the fairer, of two women of gracious and beautiful presence,
who were pacing, arm linked in arm, along a marble terrace
overlooking a famous northern strait.

The terrace on which they stood formed part of a stately palace,
built by a king of the North who loved to retire in the summer time
from his bustling capital, and gather his family around him in this
romantic home.

From here, as from a watch-tower, could be seen the fleets of
empires, the crowded shipping of many a rich port and the humbler
craft of the fisherman, passing and repassing all day long between
the great inland sea o