carry with him sealed orders under which he should act. I
wrote these and gave them to him, and he promised to follow my
instructions. They were for his future guidance. I believed that, if he
followed them, he would not only escape punishment, but reform so as to
be of service once more to the world. Naturally, when help did not
arrive from Portsmouth, I concluded that his strength had not been
sufficient for the task, that he had perished. So, I was not surprised
by the news brought to the yacht by the men who had been searching for
him.

"That morning when I visited Portsmouth, Roy dear, I had two objects in
view. One was to verify the fact that Doctor Garnet had not reached the
town. The other was to visit the young physician whom I knew to be
located there, in order to arrange with him to care for the afflicted
man in case he should arrive later on. As I was about to leave the
yacht, early in the morning, Captain Ichabod appeared."

Ethel's gravity vanished for a moment. Her lustrous eyes narrowed and
twinkled. She smiled until the dimples in her cheeks were shadows
against the rose.

"I suppose he stole away from the fond Sarah while she was asleep. He
never could have managed it had she been awake." She became serious
again, and Roy, whose mouth had widened in an appreciative grin, again
listened with sober attention.

"Captain Ichabod had a confession to make to me. That confession was
vastly more of a surprise to me, as you will soon understand, than this
news in father's letter. The old fellow first swore me to secrecy. Then
he out and told me, not without a certain exultation at his shrewdness,
that he had put one over on the greatest detective in America, Arthur
Van Dusen. He explained that when he and Arthur reached the false inlet
where they found the cap and note, he believed that Doctor Garnet had
crossed in safety, for the channel was by no means so dangerous as he
represented to the detective. As a matter of fact, he hoped and expected
to find the Doctor's tracks on the other side, and he did so although he
concealed the knowledge of their existence from Van Dusen. Ichabod went
on to tell me that he was moved to sympathy in Doctor Garnet's behalf,
that he believed the man would reform, would be of use to the world,
that he was worth saving from the law's punishment for offenses inspired
by a drug-maddened brain. He insisted that he told no lie to
Arthur--only allowed the world's greatest detective