hop grasped the handle.

"It isn't stuck!" he cried, shaking it. "It's locked!"

* * * * *

While events had been progressing in the cabin, others of no less
importance were taking place on deck. Once they were well off the land,
Funk lost no time in calling a meeting of the crew of the yacht, who
formed a circle around him.

"Now, my hearties," he said, introducing Marchmont, "this gentleman's
got a word to say to you which it's worth your while to hear." And he
put him in the centre of the ring.

"Mates," began the journalist, fitting his speech to the audience he was
addressing, "I'm a plain man of few words, and I've come to you about a
plain matter. Mr. Funk will tell you I'm speaking the truth; and you
know this gentleman," indicating the tramp.

The crowd growled gutturally. They appreciated the tramp's generous
offers of liquor, but not his society.

"Well," continued Marchmont, ignoring the unfavourable tone, "I suppose
you'd all like to see the Yankees lick the Dons."

"Ay, ay, you're right there," muttered a burly tar.

"Good for you! We're all of the same family, and blood's thicker than
water. Of course you want the boys in blue to win; and that being the
case, I rely on you to help me, like true British tars, the nation's
bulwarks--!"

"Hear, hear!" growled the crowd appreciatively.

"Now do you know whom you've aboard to-day?" demanded the American.

"The Bishop o' Blanford, and a laidy," came the tones of a voice whose
owner evidently hailed from London.

"No, you haven't," cried the journalist excitedly. "No, you haven't!
You've got two low-down Spanish spies!"

"What d'ye say, mate?" demanded the first speaker among the crew.

"I'm telling you the truth," vociferated Marchmont, lying boldly; for he
feared that the Bishop's conspiracies would go for nothing if they
suspected he was really a churchman.

"I'm telling you the truth," he repeated. "And these two gentlemen,"
referring to the mate and the tramp, "will back me up. That man's no
more the Bishop of Blanford than you are! And the _lady_--well, she's on
the stage when she isn't in the pay of the Spanish Government. I've
tracked them from the States to Canada, where I saw them both a month
ago, and then to England. I don't say how they got hold of this yacht,
but I ask you, where's the captain and the first mate?"

A growl of suspicion rewarded his efforts.

"They took pretty good care to get out