hly believed that Larssen's sole object in placing the
yacht at her disposal was to reconcile husband and wife, and so
indirectly to smooth over the quarrel between himself and Clifford. She
had no suspicion that his real objective was to get Matheson on the high
seas, the only region where he could not hear of the coming flotation of
the Hudson Bay Transport, Ltd. Larssen had told her that she was free to
order the yacht's movements as she pleased--he merely suggested in a
perfectly casual way that a cruise to the Norwegian fjords might prove
enjoyable.

"It was good of you to come!" said Olive as her husband mounted the
gangway to the white-railed deck. There was unmistakable sincerity in
her greeting.

"I'm to be captain of the 'Starlight' as soon as I get my skipper's
ticket," confided the little boy as he shook hands.

Matheson had made up his mind to carry out Elaine's wish. He had come
back to his wife; and he was prepared to fall in with any plan that she
might propose. Accordingly, when she suggested the alternatives of a
cruise down the Channel and up to the Hebrides, or a cruise to Norway,
he left the decision to her. She chose Norway. Matheson, with the
shipowner's agreement in his pocket to extend their truce to May 20th,
raised no objection. There was ample time to be back in England before
that date.

Olive gave her orders to the captain. Before weighing anchor, the latter
sent on shore for further provisions. At the same time he dispatched a
telegram to Larssen stating that they were bound for Norway that
evening.

A smooth deft dinner was served to Matheson and his wife in the
comfortable saloon as the yacht weighed anchor, slung round to a light
wind from the south-east, and made gently towards the outer edge of the
Goodwins. Through the starboard portholes Wimereux Plage twinkled gaily
to them from its string of lights on esplanade and summer villas; Cap
Grisnez flashed its calm white light of guardianship; Calais town sent a
message of kindly greeting from the far distance; only the Varne Sands
whispered a wordless warning as they swirled the waters above them and
sent a flock of shivering wavelets to beat against the smooth hull of
the "Starlight."

* * * * *

On that night of April 30th, while Clifford Matheson slept on board the
yacht, the presses of Fleet Street thundered off millions of newspapers
which bore on their financial page the impressive prospectu