antle over him!" cried Murray. "We
will shield him by a protecting Moonshee, who alone speaks his august
master's language, a tongue not to be easily translated; in fact,
perfectly proof against all prying outsiders. The one way to hoodwink
old Fraser is to humbug him about the great work on Thibet. That is the
one soft spot in the hide of this old alligator. We have gone carefully
over the reports of your secret agent at St. Heliers. Make us square
with him, Captain, let him have your orders to aid us, and he can get us
first hooked on to this Yankee Professor Alaric Hobbs! We will jolly him
a bit, and so, get an interview with old Fraser, and then fool the old
chap to the top of his bent. We will supply him with theories enough to
set every bee in his bonnet buzzing. Your man is already 'solid'
with Professor Alaric Hobbs, who is a quaint genius, and withal, a
hard-headed Yankee, but full of cranks and 'isms.'"

Anson Anstruther exchanged doubtful glances with Alixe Delavigne, who
was still very agnostic. "The real object is to spy out the interior
of Fraser's household without alarming him, and to locate his hidden
treasure, and, moreover, to open a safe, personal communication with
Nadine Johnstone. Letters and messages finally go astray. And, at the
very first sign of danger, old Andrew would clear out to the Continent,
shut up the girl, get rid of that insured package, and cut all future
communications! In the long three years, the girl might die, be
estranged from you, or perhaps fall into the hands of some foreign
fortune hunter. Human nature--woman nature--is a mutable quantity. But
once we are in communication we can provide for future correspondence in
any event.

"And you, Anstruther, would be defeated in recovering the hidden
property of the Crown. Moreover, these two Frasers are the only
heirs-at-law.

"Who knows what might not be done for a million, when a beggarly fifty
pounds will buy a death certificate in many a little continental town?"
They were all gravely silent as Murray soberly clinched his argument.
"It is idle not to believe that old Hugh Fraser Johnstone laid out his
brother's whole future course! He certainly has trusted him with his
stealings, the lost crown jewels! He trusts his child's whole future to
the care of these two cold Scotsmen, and gives the heiress over to old
Andrew, to keep her safe from Madame," Murray bowed, "his only living
enemy, and from all the other relatives of his