L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace

“ I glanced at Cairns, but saw no reflection of my thought on his face; and as to Miss Rutherford, except for two burning spots which had appeared on her cheeks, site did not show any special emotion.
"When I reach the Bitter Lake I shall die," continued the invalid, speaking now almost cheerfully, and in a most matter-of-fact voice; and," he continued, "as a necessary consequence my body will be buried there. Now, it is absolutely necessary for the success of my scheme that my body should be buried in the Bitter Lake, and it is equally necessary that it should reach England." ”

“ The two men, Wilson and Sebright, came on board for the express purpose of murdering my father, but they quickly saw that it was unnecessary to kill a dying man. Nature did the work for them. Well, he was, as you know, buried at sea, and Messrs, Wilson and Sebright saw his body committed to the deep. They therefore now consider themselves absolutely safe, but they little guess the sequel which by my father's ingenuity is about to take place."
"But one question," I interrupted. "Why should not the measurements of your father's body have been taken before burial?" ”

“ The less you say, the better for yourselves."
"You have no case against us," said Wilson. He looked full into the detective's face.
The passengers had now come clustering round in the greatest excitement.
"Ask Miss Rutherford," was Vernon's unexpected response.
She drew back for an instant, then she went boldly forward.
"I played my part, and I have succeeded," she said. "When you gave me that locket, Mr. Wilson, you fitted the last link into a necessary chain of evidence against you. ”

“ With a wild cry, as if suddenly roused to the peril of the situation, Sebright now made a lurch forward and tried to leap overboard, but Miss Rutherford herself interposed.
"Your game is up," she said, "go quietly. My father did not die in vain; it is useless to resist."
"Aye, the lady says the truth," echoed Vernon. "Come, no more struggling, please."
A moment later the two men were on board the tender.
On reaching London that afternoon we found the town ringing with the news of the capture of the entire gang of anarchists. ”

“ I went on deck, where I found the British Agent, who had just come on board from the tender which was alongside. I immediately handed him Rutherford's letter. He read it in silence.
"I have made the necessary arrangements," he said after a long pause, and speaking slowly; "everything shall be done as arranged. Is he still alive?"
"Yes, but he is dying fast," I replied. By this time the passengers began to come on deck, and as the mails were brought on board I noticed Dr. Cairns hurrying towards me. ”

“ As soon as the ship touches Plymouth he means to send off this telegram. If he does so all our plans will be foiled." She paused, then slowly raising the locket held it on her palm. "I happen to know, and my father also knew, that, written in a very ordinary and simple cypher within this locket is the order of the measurements of my father's body, which it is necessary to know in order to read the key. When I promised to marry him last night Mr. Wilson gave me the locket. It was the price I required. He thought himself safe, believing that my father was buried for ever. ”

“ You are a clever man, but a woman's wits, joined to those of a dying man, have won the victory. You little thought when I allowed you to make love to me, that I was playing a part as deep, as daring, as desperate as your own. I have won and you have lost. The contents of that fatal telegram shall never reach their destination. Mr. Vernon will see to that."
Here Wilson bunt into a high, excited laugh. He glanced at Sebright, who muttered something. I caught the words "fooled by a woman—I told you so."
"I do not know what you mean, Miss Rutherford," said Wilson ”

“ He said, 'I know all about it, and I have my reasons, but I don't mean to die before the right moment comes.' He then told me that he has some oxygen cylinders in his cabin, and intends to keep himself going with these until we reach Suez. What in the world can it mean? Using such cylinders is of course against the rules, but the good old skipper will always stretch a point. As Rutherford was speaking to me his daughter came in. He calls her Elizabeth sometimes, and sometimes Betty. She is a fine girl, and you can see at a glance that she is tremendously fond of him. ”

“ On me and on my daughter depends the exposure of one of the most diabolical conspiracies of the present day. There are many lives in imminent danger, and amongst them are some of the highest and noblest in England. ”

“ From that moment I began to watch Miss Betty with great interest. That she did not really like either of the men I was firmly convinced. Why, then, did she treat them, Wilson in particular, as if they were special friends?
Mr. Rutherford got rapidly worse. I heard this from Cairns, who spent a good deal of his time in his cabin, and was on several occasions called up at night to attend to him.
"How is your patient?" I said to him a few days later.
"Why, Conway," was his reply, "you are the very man I want. As to my poor patient, he won't last much longer. I was just coming to find you ”

“ On this principle by certain measurements one man out of fifty thousand can be identified, for it is well known that no two men have all the measurements of head and limbs alike. Now the cypher employed by this gang has been constructed on various measurements from the chief of the gang's body, such as the circumference of his skull and length of certain bones. ”

“ Of course he cannot last any time the way he goes on. From his way of speaking I think he is a medical man, too, and must know well what he is doing."
[Illustration: "Leaning on the arm of a pretty-looking girl."]
Cairns left me and I went on deck. There was a heavy sea running, and my morning's work being over, I sat by a skylight to smoke a cigar. Just before me the two Englishmen, Wilson and Sebright, were wrangling over a game of deck quoits at half-crown points. Presently I noticed the invalid, Mr. Rutherford, coming slowly on deck. ”