Burgo stood staring at the door without stirring for quite two minutes after the captain of the Naiad had disappeared down the staircase, his brain in such a maze of stupefaction and bewilderment that more than once he caught himself saying aloud, "Yes, it is really a fact that I\'m awake."

Hitherto he had only been half dressed, and he now proceeded in an automatic way to finish his toilet, after which he went on to cram and strap his portmanteau so that everything might be in readiness when the promised moment of his deliverance should have arrived.

"As my old nurse used to be so fond of remarking, it never rains but it pours," he said to himself with a philosophic shrug. "If I could only have foreseen what was going to happen, I might have spared myself all my drudgery with the file. And yet it has done me no harm. It has helped to divert my thoughts and to while away the time. Besides, had I not been seen from the yacht while at work at the window I should have been left to effect my escape alone as best I could. In any case, I shall regain my freedom twenty-four hours before I expected to do, which, circumstanced as I am, may prove an invaluable boon. As for this remarkable stranger--why he should be so eager to do me a service; why he and his fellows, if they are nothing more than peaceful yachtsmen, should be going about at midnight armed to the teeth, and why, by some means at present unknown to me, they should have forced their way into the tower for no apparent purpose except that their leader might be able to satisfy an apparently idle curiosity--are conundrums all which I should be no nearer solving at the end of a year than I am now. Let us hope that my friend with the cutlass will solve them satisfactorily before we part. He said he would be back in an hour. Will he keep his promise? Yes; I have faith in him."

When all was done that there was to do, Burgo sat down and lighted a cigarette. Now that he had nothing to distract his attention he became conscious of certain vague diffused sounds which had not obtruded them selves on him before. What he heard was like a low confused murmur of several voices, broken now and then by the clear imperative ring of one voice, as though some one were giving orders to the others. Then the murmur ceased, and he heard what seemed to him like the faint plash of muffled oars. Impelled by a vague curiosity he crossed to the window, but an unbroken pall of darkness was all that met his gaze. If the steam yacht were still at her moorings opposite the tower, she was apparently showing no light either fore or aft, which was a piece of highly culpable negligence on the part of those in command. Burgo went back to his chair more puzzled than before.

He now gave himself up to a consideration of what steps it behoved him to take first when he should have regained his liberty, and he had arrived at no clear decision on the point when he became once more aware of footsteps on the stairs. Then the captain of the Naiad appeared, followed by a man carrying a mat-basket containing tools of various kinds. "I have not failed to keep my promise, Mr. Brabazon," said the captain with a nod and a smile. Then to the man, "I want you to force the lock of this door, and be as handy about it as you can."

He stood aside while the man went to work, and nothing more was said. In something less than five minutes the lock was forced, and the door flung open, whereupon the man took up his bag and went.

Then the captain strode forward into the room and grasped Burgo by the hand. "Let me be the first, Mr. Brabazon, to congratulate you on the recovery of your liberty," he said.

"It is you whom I have to thank for it. Will you not let me know to whom I am so greatly indebted?"

"To be sure I will. I was just on the point of introducing myself. My name is Felix Marchment, and, as I think I have already remarked, I am, among other things, both owner and captain of the Naiad. But even now that I have told you this I suppose you are still at a loss to comprehend why I should have expressed myself as being so especially glad to have met you, and still more gratified, as I undoubtedly am, that it has been in my power to render you some slight service."

"A very signal service, Mr. Marchment. But, as you observe, I am still awaiting enlightenment."

"Then you shall not wait a minute longer. But what I have to say must be said quickly, for to-night I have serious business on hand. Even now the Naiad is getting up steam, and with the first streak of daylight we shall trip anchor and away."

He drew a chair up and seated himself astride it, while Burgo perched himself on a corner of the table.

"You must know, then," resumed Marchment, "that your father and mine were midshipmen together on board the Arcturus, and that it was young Mr. Brabazon\'s good fortune to save my dad\'s life, or my dad\'s good fortune to have his life saved by him; put it which way you like. Anyhow, it was a very heroic action. My dad, who couldn\'t swim a stroke, had fallen overboard while carrying out some orders aloft, and your dad at once plunged after him, although the water was known to be swarming with sharks, and succeeded in keeping him afloat till a boat\'s crew picked them both up. A few months afterwards, when the ship was paid off, the two middies parted, never to meet again. But my father, sir, was a man who never forgot an obligation--in that respect, I am sorry to say, hardly resembling the majority of his fellows--and I have often heard him express his regret that in the chances and changes of life he should have so wholly lost sight of his preserver."

"My father, Mr. Marchment, died while still quite a young man."

Marchment bowed gravely. "In that case one can understand how it was they never met again. But even when on his deathbed my father did not forget what he owed to Lieutenant Brabazon (as he had become when he last heard of him), and he laid it on me as a sacred charge that, should I ever find myself face to face with him, or any of his kin, and should it be in my power to do him, or them, a service of any kind, no matter at what cost to myself, I should not fail to do it. His words have lived in my memory, and to-day, by rare good luck, I have been enabled to repay to the son some small portion of the debt originally owing to the father."

He paused for a moment while he looked at his watch.

"And now, Mr. Brabazon, I have said my say. The door is open, and you are a free man. But before we part, tell me frankly whether there is anything more I can do for you. If there is, you may command me to the full extent of my ability. The circumstances under which I find you here are exceptional, to say the least"--this with a frank smile--"consequently, without the slightest hankering to pry into matters which do not concern me, I may perhaps be allowed to say Me voici à votre service, cher monsieur!"

Few people could have helped being touched by an offer so frankly and spontaneously tendered, and Burgo was not one of those few.

"Mr. Marchment, for what you have already done for me I thank you from the bottom of my heart," he said in a tone which carried conviction with it. "But whether you can help me further is another matter, and one which it will rest with yourself to determine when you have been told to what circumstances I owe my enforced detention in this place. I don\'t forget that your time is precious, and three or four minutes will suffice for wh............