hat if he was to be
questioned he would lie entertainingly.

Of one thing he was certain--it would help his case if he made no
attempt to hurry across the frontier. He believed in the wisdom of
hunting up the authorities whenever the authorities were hunting for
him. For instance, in the prep school, after getting the cow into the
chapel, he discovered her there and notified the principal and was the
only boy who did not fall under suspicion. To assume a childlike
innocence and to bluff magnificently,--these had been the twin rules
that had saved him so often and would save him now, unless he should be
confronted by the princess or the two guards, in which case--he whistled
softly.

Suddenly two men came slamming in at the front door and stalked down the
avenue of palms. They seemed to be throbbing with the importance of
their errand, as they moved toward a little side office, which was the
official lair of the manager.

One of the men was elderly and wizened and the other was a detective.
Pike knew it as soon as he glanced at the heavy jowls and the broad face
and heard the authoritative footfall. He knew, also, that he was not a
bona fide detective, but a municipal detective, who is paid a monthly
salary and walks stealthily along side streets in citizen's dress, all
the time imagining that the people he meets take him to be a merchant or
a lawyer. In this he is mistaken, for he resembles nothing except a
municipal detective.

If Mr. Pike had known that the officer who accompanied Popova was the
celebrated Koldo, chief of the secret service, no doubt the impulse to
retreat to his apartment and get behind the bed canopies would have been
stronger. He knew, however, that no detective of analytical methods
would expect to find the criminal standing at his elbow, so he followed
the two over to the office and calmly wedged himself into the
conference.

The great Koldo was agitated as he told his story to the manager, who
was a polite and sympathetic importation from Switzerland. Popova stood
by and corroborated by nodding.

"An outrage of the most dreadful nature has been reported from the
palace," said Koldo.

"Dear me!" murmured the manager. "I am so sorry."

"A stranger scaled the wall and entered the forbidden precincts. He
addressed himself to the Princess Kalora with most insulting
familiarity. Two of the household guards captured him, but he escaped
after beating them brutally. The report of the whole aff