himportant, sir."

"Wot is?"

"I dunno, sir."

"Well, show 'im in. I'll soon settle 'im."

A quiet-mannered young man appeared. He ignored David's sharp, "Now,
wot can I do for you?" and drew up a chair, on which he seated himself,
uninvited.

"May I ask if you have received any private news of the _Andromeda_?"
he began.

"No."

"In that case, you must prepare yourself for a statement that may give
you a shock," said the journalist.

David creaked round in his chair. His face, not so red as of yore,
paled distinctly.

"Is she lost?" said he in a strangely subdued tone.

"I--I fear she is. But there is much more than an ordinary shipwreck
at issue. Several telegrams of the gravest import have reached us this
morning. Perhaps, before I ask you any questions, you ought to read
them. They are in type already, and I have brought you proofs. Here
is the first."

David took from the interviewer's outstretched hand a long strip of
white paper. For an appreciable time his seething brain refused to
comprehend the curiously black letters that grouped themselves into
words on the limp sheet. And, indeed, he was not to be blamed if he
was dull of understanding, for this is what he read:

"REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL.

"SERIOUS POSITION.

"STARTLING ESCAPADE OF A BRITISH SHIP.

"RIO DE JANEIRO, September 5th. A situation of exceptional gravity has
evidently arisen on the island of Fernando do Noronha, whence, it is
said, ex-President De Sylva recently attempted to escape. A battleship
and two cruisers have been despatched thither under forced draught. No
public telegrams have been received from the island during the past
week, and the authorities absolutely refuse any information as to
earlier events, though the local press hints at some extraordinary
developments not unconnected with the appearance off the island of a
British steamship known as the _Andromeda_.

"_Later_--De Sylva landed last night at the small port of Maceio in the
province of Alagoas, a hundred miles south of Pernambuco. It is
currently reported that Fernando Noronha was captured by a gang of
British freebooters. De Sylva's return is unquestionable. To-day he
issued a proclamation, and his partisans have seized some portion of
the railway. Excitement here is at fever heat."

Verity glared at the journalist. He laughed, almost hysterically.

"The _Andromeda_!" he gasped. "Wot rot! Wot silly rot!"

"Better withhold