"If you have to talk with any of the natives," Dave advised, "speak your French slowly, and ask the person you're addressing to do the same."
Though the way was steep, it was not a long road. Dave and Dan soon reached the upper, rocky plain, edged by cliffs, on which the Casino and some of the hotels and other buildings stand.
"If it weren't for the gambling," murmured Dan to his friend, "I'd call this a beautiful enough spot to live and die in."
"As it is, a good many men and women manage to die here," Darrin returned gravely.
The Casino was surrounded by beautiful gardens, in which were many rare tropical trees and shrubs. From the Casino came the sound of orchestral music. Throngs moved about on the verandas; couples or little groups strolled through the gardens. Inside, the play had hardly begun. Gambling does not reach its frantic height until midnight.
"We shall feel out of place," mused Dave aloud. "Dan, we really should have known better than to come here in anything but evening dress. You see that every one else is in full regalia."
"Perhaps we'd better keep on the edge of the crowd," responded Danny Grin. "There is enough to be seen here, for one evening, without entering the Casino."
Though Dave intended to enter the Casino later, he decided, for the present, to take in the full beauty of the night in the gardens. There were electric lights everywhere, which outshone the brilliance of the moon.
"Hello!" whispered Dan, suddenly. "There's an old friend of ours."
"Who?"
"Mr. Green Hat," Dan whispered impressively.
Instantly Dave Darrin became intensely interested, though he had no intimation of what this second meeting portended. That Mr. Green Hat was destined to play a highly tragic rôle in his life, Darrin, of course, had no inkling at that moment.
"There he is!" whispered Dalzell, pointing, as the chums stood screened by a flowering bush.
"We'll watch that rascal!" Dave proposed promptly. "I wonder if he has followed the 'Hudson' here with a view to attempting more mischief against our Government. Whatever his game is, I am going to take a peep at the inside of it if a chance comes my way!"
Mr. Green Hat, on this occasion, had discarded the article of headwear that had given him that nickname with the young ensigns.
Instead, Gortchky wore an opera hat, with evening dress of the most fashionable description. On his broad white expanse of vest there glittered a foreign decoration.
Though he walked alone, and affected an air of indifference to his surroundings, Darrin was of the impression that the spy was looking alertly for some one.
"Of course it may happen," said Dave to his friend, "that the fellow is foolish enough to come here for the purpose of throwing away at the gaming tables the money he earns by his questionable services to some plotting international ring. Yet that seems hardly likely, either, for Gortchky must be a man of tremendous energy, to render the thrilling services that are demanded of a spy or an international trouble-maker."
Now the two chums left the place where theyhad been standing behind the bush, to stroll along slowly, all the while keeping Gortchky in sight.
Dave nudged his chum as, at a turn in the path, the spy came face to face with a woman clad in a beautiful evening gown.
Raising his hat, and making a courteous bow to the woman, who returned the greeting, Gortchky exchanged half a dozen sentences with her. Then the pair separated, though not before Dave and Dan had obtained, under the electric light, a good view of the young woman's face. Her dark beauty, her height and grace, gave her a queenly air.
Stepping into another path, Dave and Dan were soon on the trail of Gortchky once more, without having been obliged to pass the young woman face to face.
"I wonder if she's a 'spy-ess'?" murmured Dan.
"It is just as well to be suspicious of any one whom Gortchky appears to know well," Dave answered, slowly, in a low voice.
"I beg pardon, sir," broke in a sailor from the "Hudson," stepping forward and saluting the officers. "May I speak with you, sir?"
It was Dan to whom he spoke, and it was Dan who answered:
"Certainly, Martin."
"The spy came face to face with a woman.""The spy came face to face with a woman."
Martin was one of the gun-pointers in Dalzell's division.
"Linton, one of our men, has been hurt, and rather badly, by falling off a boulder that he climbed not far from here, sir. I thought I would ask the ensign what to do with Linton."
"How badly is he hurt?" asked Ensign Dalzell.
"I think his right leg is broken, sir. Colby is with him, and I came in search of you, sir, as I was certain I saw you here."
"Is Linton far from here?" asked Dalzell.
"Less than a quarter of a mile, sir."
"Lead the way, Martin, and I'll follow you. Dave, you'll excuse me for a little while, won't you?"
"Certainly," nodded Ensign Darrin. Dave wished to remain where he was, in order to keep an eye over Gortchky's movements, and Dan knew it. So the chums parted for the present.
"Now, I'll see if I can pick up Gortchky again," reflected Ensign Darrin. "He appears to have given me the slip."
Dave went ahead, more briskly than he had been moving before, in the hope of sighting the spy.
Out of the Casino had staggered a young man, despair written on his face, hopelessness in his very air. Plunging into the garden this stranger made his way hastily through it, keeping on untilhe came to the field where pigeon shoots are held from time to time.
Dave, at the edge of the garden, saw the young man step past the shrubbery and go on into the darkness beyond. Under the last rays of light Ensign Darrin saw something glitter in the stranger's hand.
"That fellow has just drawn a revolver!" flashed through Darrin's mind. "Now, what mischief can he be up to?"
Led onward by some fascination that he did not understand, the young naval officer followed.
In his excitement and desperation the man did not notice that he was being followed.
Halting under the heavy foliage of a tree, the stranger glanced down at the weapon in his hand and shuddered. This foolish young man, haunting the gambling tables until he had ruined himself, and seeing nothing now ahead of him in life, was bent upon self-destruction.
Sometimes there are several such suicides at Monte Carlo in a single week. If unprovided with other means for ending his life, the suicide sometimes hurls himself over the edge of one of the steep cliffs.
Suicides, of course, have a depressing effect on other players, so those in authority at the Casino take every means of hushing up these tragedies as effectively as possible.
"There is really nothing left in life," muttered the young man huskily, as he stared at the weapon in his hand. He spoke in French, but Darrin heard and understood him.
Then the desperate one raised the weapon, pointing the muzzle at his head.
At that instant there was a quick step out of the darkness, and Dave reached the stranger. The latter, startled, drew back, but not in time to prevent Darrin's grip of steel from resting on his right wrist.
Wrench! Dave had the pistol in his own hands, at the same time murmuring:
"You will pardon me, I trust."
Ensign Darrin broke the weapon open at the breach. From the chamber he removed the cartridges, dropping them into his pocket. With another swift movement Dave flung the pistol so far that it dropped over the edge of a cliff.
"You will pardon me, I trust, sir, for throwing your property away in that fashion," Dave apologized, in the best French he could summon.
"Since it is the very last item of my property that was left to me, perhaps it can matter but little that I am deprived of it," said the stranger, smiling wanly. "The cliff is still left to me, however. I can easily follow the pistol."
"But you are not going to jump over the cliff," Darrin assured him energetically.
"And why are you so certain of that?" demanded the stranger.
Dave looked keenly at his companion before he replied:
"Because, sir, your face is that of a man—not of a coward. Suicide is the act of a coward. It is the resort of one who frankly admits that his troubles are greater than he has the manhood to bear. Now, you have, when one regards you closely, the look of a man and a gentleman."
"Thank you for your good opinion, sir," replied the stranger, bowing. "I will say that I was born a gentleman."
"And you still are one, and a man, as well as a gentleman," Dave continued, gently. "Therefore, you are not afraid to face life."
"What is there left to me to make life worth living?" queried the stranger.
"Why should you have the least desire to die?" Dave countered.
"I have lost all my money."
"That is a very slight matter," Darrin argued. "Lost all your money, have you? Why, my dear fellow, there's a lot more in the world."
"But none of the money now in the world is mine," urged the desperate one.
"Then make a part of the world's money yours," the young naval officer retorted, smilingly.
"I have never worked," replied the stranger stiffly.
"Why not?" Dave pressed.
"I never had need to."
"But now you have the need, and working for money will bring some novelty into your life," the young ensign insisted.
"Did I not tell you that I was born a gentleman?" inquired the young man, raising his eyebrows. "A gentleman never works!"
"Some gentlemen don't," Dave admitted. "But they are the wrong kind of gentlemen."
"If I mistake not," quizzed the stranger keenly, "you are a gentleman, yourself."
"I trust that I am," Dave responded gravely.
"Then do you work?"
"More hours a day than any laborer does," Darrin answered promptly. "I am a naval officer."
"Ah, but that is a career of honor—of glory!" cried the stranger.
"And so is any honest job of work that a man takes up in earnest and carries through to the best of his ability," Dave Darrin returned with warmth.
"But you see, sir," argued the stranger, though now he was smiling, "you have been trained to a profession. I never was so trained."
"You are young?"
"Twenty-four."
"Then you are young enough to change yourmind and recognize the dignity of labor," Darrin continued. "You are also young enough and, unless I mistake you, bright enough to win a very good place in life for yourself. And you are man enough, now you have had time to think it over, to see the wickedness of destroying yourself. Man,makeyourself instead."
"I'll do it! I will make myself!" promised the stranger, with a new outburst of emotion.
"And you will never again allow yourself to become so downcast that you will seek to destroy yourself?"
"Never!"
"I am satisfied," Dave said gravely. "You are a man of honor, and therefore are incapable of breaking your word. Your hand!"
Their hands met in ardent clasp. Then Darrin took out his card case, tendering his card to the stranger.
Instantly the young man produced his own card case, and extended a bit of pasteboard, murmuring:
"I am M. le Comte de Surigny, of Lyons, France."
It was too dark to read the cards there, but Dave gave his own name, and again the young men shook hands.
"But I am forgetting my comrade," Dave cried suddenly. "He was to return in a few minutes, and will not know where to find me."
"And I have detained you, with my own wretched affairs!" cried the young count reproachfully. "I must not trespass upon your time another second."
"Why not walk along with me and meet my friend?" Dave suggested.
"With pleasure."
Dave and the young French count stepped along briskly until they came to the spot where Dalzell had left his chum. Two or three minutes later Dan hove into sight.
Dan and the Count of Surigny were introduced, and some chat followed. Then the Count frankly told of the service that Darrin had just rendered him.
"That is Dave!" glowed Dan. "He's always around in time to be of use to some one."
In the distance a shot rang out—only one. The Count of Surigny shuddered.
"You understand, do you not?" he asked.
"I am afraid so," Dave sadly responded.
As they stood there four men with a litter hurried past toward the place whence the sound of the shot had come.
"The police of Monte Carlo," murmured the Count of Surigny.
Presently, at a distance, the three onlookers beheld the four men and the litter moving stealthily along, but not toward the Casino. The litterwas occupied by a still form over which a cover had been thrown.
"You have shown me the way of true courage!" murmured the Count of Surigny, laying an affectionate hand on Ensign Darrin's shoulder.
The chums and their new acquaintance strolled along for a few moments. Then the Count suddenly exclaimed:
"But I am intruding, and must leave you."
"You surely are not intruding," Dave told him. "We are delighted with your company."
"Wholly so," Dan added.
But the Count felt himself to be an interloper, and so insisted on shaking hands again and taking his departure.
"I shall see or write you presently," said the Count. He had already obtained the fleet address, and knew, in addition, that he could write at any time through the Navy Department at Washington.
"Will he make good?" asked Danny Grin wistfully, as he peered after the departing form.
"It's an even chance," Dave replied. "Either that young man will go steadily up, or else he will go rapidly down. It is sometimes a terrible thing to be born a gentleman—in the European sense. Few of the Count's friends will appreciate him if he starts in upon a career of effort. But, even though he goes down, he will strugglebravely at the outset. Of that I feel certain."
"I wonder what has become of Gortchky?" remarked Ensign Dalzell.
That industrious spy, however, was no longer the pursued; he had become the pursuer.
From a little distance Gortchky had espied Dave and the Count chatting, and had witnessed the introduction to Dalzell. A man of Mr. Green Hat's experience with the world did not need many glances to assure himself that the Count had lost his last franc at the gambling table.
Gortchky was not at Monte Carlo without abundant assistance. So, as the Count, head down, and reflecting hard, strolled along one of the paths, a man bumped into him violently.
"Ten thousand pardons, Monsieur!" cried the bumper, in a tone of great embarrassment. "It was stupid of me. I—"
"Have no uneasiness, my friend," smiled the Count. "It was I who was stupid. I should have looked where I was going."
Courteous bows were exchanged, and the two separated. But the man who had bumped into the Count now carried inside his sleeve the Count's empty wallet, which was adorned with the crest of Surigny.
This wallet was promptly delivered to another.Five minutes later, as the Count strolled along, Emil Gortchky called out behind him:
"Monsieur! Pardon me, but I think you must have dropped your wallet."
"If I have, the loss is trifling indeed," smiled the Count, turning.
Gortchky held out the wallet, then struck a match. By the flame the Count beheld his own crest.
"Yes, it is mine," replied the Count, "and I thank you for your kindness."
"Will Monsieur do me the kindness, before I leave him, to make sure that the contents of the wallet are intact?" urged Gortchky.
"It will take but an instant," laughed the Count of Surigny. "See! I will show you that the contents are intact!"
As he spoke he opened the wallet. A packet of paper dropped to the ground. In astonishment the Count bent over to pick up the packet. M. Gortchky struck another match.
"Let us go nearer to an electric light, that you may count your money at your ease, Monsieur," suggested Gortchky.
Like one in a daze the Count moved along with Gortchky. When sufficiently in the light, Surigny, with an expression of astonishment, found that he was the possessor of thirty twenty-franc notes.
"I did not know that I had this!" cried the Count. "How did I come to overlook it?"
"It is but a trifle to a man of your fortune," cried M. Gortchky gayly.
"It is all I have in the world!" sighed the young man. "And I am still amazed that I possess so much."
"Poor?" asked Gortchky, in a voice vibrating with sympathy. "And you so young, and a gentleman of old family! Monsieur, it may be that this is a happy meeting. Perhaps I may be able to offer you the employment that befits a gentleman."
Then Gortchky lowered his voice, almost whispering:
"For I am in the diplomatic service, and have need of just such an attaché as you would make. Young, a gentleman, and of charming manners! Your intellect, too, I am sure, is one that would fit you for eminence in the diplomatic service."
"The mere mention of the diplomatic service attracts me," confessed M. le Comte wistfully.
"Then you shall have your fling at it!" promised M. Gortchky. "But enough of this. You shall talk it over with me to-morrow. Diplomacy, you know, is all gamble, and the gambler makes the best diplomat in the world. For to-night, Monsieur, you shall enjoy yourself! If I know anything of gaming fate, then you are due toreap a harvest of thousands with your few francs to-night. I can see it in your face that your luck is about to turn. An evening of calm, quiet play, Monsieur, and in the morning you and I will arrange for your entrance into the diplomatic world.Faites votre jeux!(Make your wagers.) Wealth to-night, and a career to-morrow! Come! To the Casino!"
Side by side Dave and Dan strolled through the vast main salon of the Casino.
Here at tables were groups of men and women. Each player hoped to quit the tables that night richer by thousands. Most of them were doomed to leave poorer, as chance is always in favor of the gambling institution and always against the player.
"It's a mad scene," murmured Dan, in a low voice.
"You are looking on now at an exhibition of what is probably the worst, and therefore the most dangerous, human vice," Dave replied. "Bad as drunkenness is, gambling is worse."
"What is at the bottom of the gambling mania?" Dan asked thoughtfully.
"Greed," Dave responded promptly. "The desire to possess property, and to acquire it without working for it."
"Some of these poor men and women look as if they were working hard indeed," muttered Dan, in almost a tone of sympathy.
"They are not working so much as suffering," Dave rejoined. "Study their faces, Danny boy. Can't you see greed sticking out all over these countenances? Look at the hectic flush in most of the faces. And—look at that man!"
A short, stout man sprang up from a table, his face ghastly pale and distorted as though with terror. His eyes were wild and staring. He chattered incoherently as he hastened away with tottering steps. Then his hands gripped his hair, as though about to tear it from his head.
A few of the players in this international congress of greed glanced at the unfortunate man, who probably had just beggared himself, shrugged their shoulders, and turned their fascinated eyes back to the gambling table.
One woman, young and charming, reached up to her throat, unfastening and tossing on the table a costly diamond necklace and pendant.
"Now," she laughed hysterically, "I may go on playing for another hour."
The Casino's representative in charge at that table smiled and shook his head.
"We accept only money, madame," he said, with a grave bow.
"But I have no more money—with me," flashed back the young woman, her cheeks burning feverishly.
"I regret, madame," insisted the Casino'sman. Then an attendant, at a barely perceptible sign from thecroupier, as the man in charge of the table is called, stepped up behind the young woman, bent over her and murmured:
"If you care to leave the table for a few minutes, madame, there are those close at hand who will advance you money on your necklace."
The young woman pouted at first. In another instant there was a suppressed shout at the table. A player had just won four thousand francs.
"I must have money!" cried the young woman, springing from her chair. "This is destined to be my lucky night, and I must have money!"
As though he had been waiting for his prey, the attendant was quickly by the woman's side. Bowing, he offered his arm. The man, attendant though he was, was garbed in evening dress. Without a blush the woman moved away on this attendant's arm.
"Shall we move on?" asked Dan.
"Not just yet," urged Darrin, in an undertone. "I am interested in the further fate of that foolish young woman."
Within five minutes she had returned. Her former seat had been reserved for her; the young woman dropped into it.
"You have enough money now?" asked the woman at her left.
"I have money," pouted the pretty youngwoman, "but be warned by me. The pawnbrokers at Monte Carlo are robbers. The fellow would advance me only six thousand francs, whereas my husband paid a hundred thousand for that necklace."
A moment later the young woman was absorbed in the wild frenzy of play.
"And that attendant undoubtedly gets a handsome commission from the pawnbroker," murmured Darrin in his chum's ear. "Greed here is in the very air; none can escape it who lingers."
"How much have you lost, Darrin?" called a bantering voice in Dave's ear.
The speaker was Lieutenant Totten.
"About as much, I imagine, as you have, sir," was Darrin's smiling answer.
"Meaning that you now have as much money as when you entered the place?" answered the lieutenant, banteringly.
"Exactly," returned Darrin. "I have only to study the faces here to know better than to risk even a franc-piece at one of these tables."
"And you, Dalzell?" inquired Totten.
"I haven't any French money, anyway," grinned Dan.
"Not at all necessary to have French money," laughed Totten. "Any kind of real money is good here—as long as it lasts. Every nation on earth is represented here to-night, and theattendants know the current exchange rate for any kind of good money that is coined or printed. Look closely about you and you will see other things that are worth nothing. There are men here, some of them limping, others showing the pallor of illness, who are undoubtedly French, English or Italian officers, injured at the front and sent home to hospitals. Being still unfitted to return to their soldier duties at the front, they are passing time here and indulging in their mania for gambling. And here, too, you will see wealthy French, Italian, English or Russian civilians who have returned to Monte Carlo to gamble, though later on they are pretty certain to be held up to contempt at home for gambling money away here instead of buying government war bonds at home."
"You have been here before?" Dave asked.
"Oh, yes," nodded Totten, "and as I do not play, and would not do so in any circumstances, this place has not much interest for me."
"I can hardly imagine," said Ensign Darrin, gravely, "that I shall ever bother to pay a second visit here."
"It's a good deal of a bore," yawned Lieutenant Totten, behind his hand. "I am glad to note that most of the people here look like Europeans. I should hate to believe that many Americans could be foolish enough to come here."
At that moment a stout, red-faced man rose from a table near by, his voice booming as he laughed:
"I have lost only sixteen thousand francs. I shall be sure to come back and have my revenge. In Chicago my signature is good at any time for a million dollars—for five million francs!"
Many eyes, followed this speaker wistfully. With such wealth as his how many months of frenzied pleasure they might have at Monte Carlo!
"One American idiot, at least," muttered Totten, in disgust. "Or else he's a liar or braggart."
Madly the play went on, the faces of the players growing more flushed as the hour grew later.
Totten moved along with a bored air.
"I guess he's going," said Dan. "I don't blame him for being tired of the place. It's like a human menagerie."
"We'll go, then," agreed Dave. "Surely I have seen enough of the Casino. I shall never care to revisit it."
"Ah, here you are, my dear fellows!" exclaimed a musical voice. "And the Countess Ripoli has asked me to present you to her. She is eager to know if you American officers are as wonderful as I have told her."
The speaker was Dandelli, a handsome, boyish-looking,frank-faced young Italian naval officer with whom Darrin and Dalzell had become acquainted at Gibraltar.
The Countess Ripoli, to whom Dandelli now presented the two young ensigns, was a woman in the full flower of her beauty at twenty-five or so. Tall, willowy, with a perfect air, her wonderful eyes, in which there was a touch of Moorish fire, were calculated to set a young man's heart to beating responses to her mood. Attired in the latest mode of Paris, and wearing only enough jewels to enhance her great beauty, the Countess chose to be most gracious to the young ensigns. Dave thought her a charming young woman; Dan Dalzell nearly lost his head.
From a distance Emil Gortchky looked on, a quiet smile gleaming in his eyes.
"Dandelli is a fool, who will do any pretty woman's bidding," mused the spy. "Madame Ripoli can play with him. Also I believe she will surely ensnare for me at least one of the Americans. Which, I wonder? But then why should I care which? The Ripoli knows how to manage such affairs far better than I do."
For the Countess was another of the many dangerous tools with which Mr. Green Hat plied his wicked trade.
If the Countess, as unscrupulous as Gortchky himself, could ensnare either of these youngofficers with her fascinations, he was likely to be that much the weaker, and a readier prey for the trap that Emil Gortchky was arranging.
"Dandelli," murmured the Countess sweetly, in French, "you will wish, I know, to talk with your dear friend, Mr. Darrin, so I must look to Mr. Dalzell to offer me his arm."
Dan was ready, with a bow, to offer the Countess Ripoli his arm, and to escort her in the direction which she indicated.
It was to one of the verandas that the Countess led the way. As she chatted she laughed and looked up at Dan with her most engaging expression. There were other promenaders on the veranda, though not many, for the furious fascination of gambling tables kept nearly all the frequenters of the place inside.
"You have played to-night?" asked the Countess, again glancing sweetly up into the young naval officer's face.
"Not to-night," Dan replied.
"But you will doubtless play later?" she insisted.
"I haven't gambled to-night, nor shall I gamble on any other night," Dan replied pleasantly.
"But why?" demanded the Countess, looking puzzled.
"Gambling does not fit in with my idea of honesty," replied Dalzell quite bluntly.
"I do not understand," murmured the Countess.
"I know that the European idea of gambling is very different from that entertained by most people in my country," Dan went on pleasantly. "To the greater number of Americans, gambling is a method of getting other people's money away from them without working for it."
"And that is why you term it dishonest?" asked the Countess.
"Yes," replied Dan frankly. "And, in addition, it is a wicked waste of time that could be put to so many good uses."
Countess Ripoli shrugged her fine shoulders, and looked up once more at the young officer. But Dan was smiling back coolly at her.
"You have not a flattering idea of the Europeans?" she asked.
"Quite to the contrary," Dan assured her.
"Yet you think we are both weak and dishonest, because we use our time to poor advantage and because so many of us find Monte Carlo delightful?" she pressed him.
"Not all Europeans frequent Monte Carlo," Dalzell answered.
"May I ask my new American friend whyheshould waste his time here?" laughed the Countess.
"I do not believe I have exactly wasted my time," Dan replied. "A naval officer, or any other American, may well spend some of his time here in gaining a better knowledge of human nature. Surely, there is much of human nature to be seen here, even though it be not one of the better sides."
"What is the bad trait, or the vice, that one beholds most at Monte Carlo?" the Countess asked.
"Greed," Dan rejoined promptly.
"And dishonesty?"
"Much of that vice, no doubt," Dan continued. "To-night there must be many a man here who is throwing away money that his family needs, yet he will never tell his wife that he lost his money over a table at Monte Carlo. Again, there must be many a woman here throwing away money in large sums, and she, very likely, will never tell her husband the truth. Let us say that, in both sexes, there are a hundred persons here to-night who will be dishonest toward their life partners afterward. And then, perhaps, many a young bachelor, who, betrothed to some good woman, is learning his first lessons in greed and deceit. And some young girls, too,who are perhaps learning the wrong lessons in life. I know of one very young man here who tried to blow out his brains to-night. For the sake of a few hours, or perhaps a few weeks, over the gaming tables of Monte Carlo, he had thrown away everything that made life worth living. Any man who gambles bids good-by to the finer things of life."
Dan's slow, halting French made the Countess listen very attentively, that she might understand just what he said. She puckered her brow thoughtfully, then suddenly glanced up, laughing with all the witchery at her command.
"Then, my dear American," she said insinuatingly, "I fear that you are going to refuse me a very great favor."
"I hope not," Dan replied, gallantly.
"There is," pursued the Countess, "such a thing as luck. Often a prophecy of that luck is to be seen in one's face. I see such luck written in your face now. Since you will not play for yourself, I had hoped that you would be willing to let me have the benefit of a little of the luck that is so plainly written on your face. I had hoped, up to this instant, that you would consent to play as my proxy."
The Countess was looking at him in a way that would have melted many a man into agreeing to her wishes, but Dan answered promptly:
"I regret, Countess, to be compelled to refuse your request, but I would not play for myself, nor for anyone else."
"If you so detest Monte Carlo and its pursuits," replied the Countess with a pout, "I cannot understand why you are here."
"There was something useful to be gained from witnessing the sights here, but I have seen as much as I wish," Dalzell went on, "and now I am ready to leave. I am returning to my ship as soon as Darrin is ready to go."
"And he, also, is tired of Monte Carlo?" asked Countess Ripoli.
"Darrin's views are much the same as my own," Dan responded quietly.
Countess Ripoli bit her lip, then surveyed Dalzell with a sidelong look which she did not believe he saw, but Dan, trained in habits of observation, had missed nothing.
"Will you take me back to the tables?" asked the Countess suddenly.
"With pleasure," bowed Dan.
Lightly resting a hand on his arm the Countess guided Dalzell rather than walked with him. Back into the largest salon they moved.
Dan's eye roved about in search of Darrin, but that young ensign was not in sight.
At that very moment, in fact, Dave Darrinwas very much concerned in a matter upon which he had stumbled.
A few moments before his quick eye had espied Emil Gortchky crossing the room at a distance. Gortchky paused barely more than a few seconds to say a few words to a white-bearded, rather distinguished-looking foreigner. The older man returned Gortchky's look, then smiled slightly and moved on.
It was a trivial incident, but it was sufficient to set Dave's mind to working swiftly, on account of what he already knew about Mr. Green Hat.
For a few moments longer Ensign Darrin stood where he was; then, tiring of the scene, and wondering what had become of Danny Grin, he moved out upon one of the verandas, strolling slowly along. Reaching a darker part of the veranda, where a clump of small potted trees formed a toy grove, Dave paused, looking past the trees out upon the vague glimpses to be had of the Mediterranean by night.
There, in the near distance, gleamed the lights of the "Hudson." Darrin's face glowed with pride in the ship and in the Nation that stood behind her.
Almost unconsciously he stepped inside the little grove. For a few minutes longer his gaze rested on the sea. Then, hearing voices faintly, he turned to see if Dalzell were approaching.
Instead, it was the white-bearded foreigner, the murmur of whose voice had reached him. With him was another man, younger, black-haired, and with a face that somehow made the beholder think of an eagle.
The two men were engaged in close, low-voiced conversation.
"I'd better step into view," reflected Darrin, "so that they may not talk of private matters in my hearing."
Just then a chuckle escaped the younger of the pair, and with it Dave distinguished the word, "American."
It was the sneering intonation given the word that made Dave Darrin start slightly.
"Those men are discussing my country," muttered the young ensign, swiftly, "and one of them at least is well acquainted with that spy, Gortchky. Perhaps I shall do better to remain where I am."
Nor had Dave long to deliberate on this point, for the pair now neared the grove. They were speaking French, and in undertones, but Dave's ear was quick for that tongue, and he caught the words:
"England's friendship is important to America at the present moment, and it is very freely given, too. The English believe in their Yankee cousins."
"When the English lose a naval ship or two at Malta or elsewhere, and learn that it is the Americans who sink their ships, and then lie about it, will the English love for America be as great?" laughed the younger man.
"The English will be furious," smiled the white-bearded man, "and they will never learn the truth, either. For a hundred years to come Great Britain will hate the United States with the fiercest hatred."
"It is a desperate trick, but a clever one," declared the younger man, admiringly. "Nor will there be any way for either England or America to learn the truth. The whole world will know that the Yankees destroyed two British ships with all on board. It will probably bring the two countries to actual war. No matter though England is at present engaged in a huge war, the sentiment of her people would force her to take the United States on, too."
Ensign Dave Darrin, overhearing that conversation, and well knowing that he was listening to more than vaporing, felt his face blanch. He steeled himself to rigid posture as he felt himself trembling slightly.
Farther down the veranda strolled the French-speaking pair, then wheeled out of sight.
In a twinkling Dave strode silently, swiftly toward the salon that he had left. As he steppedinto the brighter light, with admirable control, he slowed down to a sauntering stroll, looking smilingly about as though his whole mind were on the scenes of gambling before him.
A moment or two later Darrin's eyes caught sight of Dan Dalzell, as that young officer bowed the Countess Ripoli to a seat.
In vain did the Countess use her prettiest smiles to hold Danny Grin by her side as she played. Dalzell had been schooled at Annapolis and in the Navy itself, and knew how to take his leave gracefully, which he did, followed by the pouts of the Countess. As soon as she saw that the ensign's back was turned, a very unpleasant frown crossed her beautiful face.
Dave continued his stroll until he met Dan at a point where none stood near them.
"Keep on smiling, Dan," urged Dave, in an undertone. "Don't let that grin leave your face. But it's back to the ship for us on the double-quick! I may be dreaming, but I think I have found out the meaning of Mr. Green Hat's strange activities. I believe there is a plot on foot to bring England and our country into war with each other. One thing is certain. It's my duty to get back on board as fast as possible. I must tell the admiral what I have overheard."
Dan did not forget the injunction to keep on smiling. He proved so excellent an actor thathe laughed heartily as Dave Darrin finished his few but thrilling words.
"Tiresome here, isn't it?" murmured Dan, aloud. "We might as well go back on board ship."
Reporting their coming aboard to the officer of the deck, Dave and Dan hastened to their respective quarters.
While Ensign Dalzell performed a "lightning change" from "cits" to uniform, Dave first seated himself at his desk, where he wrote a note hurriedly.
This done, he passed the word for an orderly, who promptly appeared.
"Take this note to the Captain," ordered Darrin.
"Aye, aye, sir," said the messenger.
Dave then hastened to make the necessary change in his own apparel. So quickly did he act, that he had his uniform on and was buttoning his blouse when the messenger returned.
"The Captain will see Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell immediately," reported the orderly.
Returning the orderly's salute, Dave buckled on his sword belt, hung on his sword, drew on hiswhite gloves, and started. He found his chum ready.
Together the young officers reported at the Captain's quarters. Captain Allen was already seated at his desk.
"Orderly!" called the commanding officer briskly.
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Guard the door and report that I am engaged."
"Aye, aye, sir."
In an instant Captain Allen, who had briefly greeted his youngest officers, turned to them.
"Your note, Mr. Darrin, stated that you had a matter to report to me of such importance that you did not believe I would wish to lose a moment in hearing what Mr. Dalzell and yourself could tell me."
"That is the case, sir," Dave bowed. "Have I your permission to proceed, sir?"
"Yes. You may take seats, if you wish."
Bowing their thanks, the young officers remained on their feet.
Ensign Dave plunged at once into the narration of what had befallen them ashore.
Captain Allen listened to the tale without comment, but when Dave related what he had overheard the two men say when passing the imitation grove on the darkest part of the Casino veranda, the commanding officer sprang to his feet.
"Mr. Darrin," he demanded, "are you positive of the words that you have just repeated?"
"I am, sir. In a matter of such importance I was careful to record every word in my mind just as it was uttered."
"Then I must communicate with the Admiral at once," continued Captain Allen, seating himself again. "Even if the Admiral be abed I consider this a subject of enough importance to call him."
Taking down the receiver of the telephone that led direct to the fleet commander's quarters, the Captain sent in a call to the Admiral's quarters.
Soon there came a response.
"This is the Captain speaking, Admiral," announced the "Hudson's" commanding officer. "Although the hour is late, sir, I request permission to report to you on a matter of importance."
"I will see you, Captain, in five minutes."
"Thank you, sir. I request permission to bring two officers with me."
"Permission is granted, Captain."
"Thank you, sir."
Hanging up the transmitter, Captain Allen sank back in his chair.
"Is there anything else, gentlemen, that you wish to say to me before we go to the Admiral?"
"I think I have told you all, sir," Dave replied.
"And I, too," Dalzell added.
Keeping his eye on the clock, Captain Allen presently arose, girded on his sword, parted the curtains, and led the way.
"If I am wanted, Orderly, I shall be in the Admiral's quarters."
"Aye, aye, sir."
The three officers then filed rapidly along the deck, presented themselves at the Admiral's quarters, and were admitted.
Admiral Timworth was standing at the rear of his cabin when the subordinate officers entered. He came quickly forward, instructed his orderly to guard the door, then turned to his visitors.
"I believe it will be best, with your permission, sir," began Captain Allen, "to let Mr. Darrin make his report to you."
"Mr. Darrin will proceed, then."
So Dave repeated the story he had told the Captain. Admiral Timworth listened until the recital had been finished, and then asked several questions.
"It does not sound like a hoax," commented Admiral Timworth, at last. "Yet it is impossible for me to conceive how two British battleships are to be sunk near Malta, or near anywhere else, and Americans blamed for the act. Captain Allen, can you imagine any way in which such a thing might be effected?"
"I cannot, sir."
"The subject must be given careful thought," declared the Admiral. "By the way, Mr. Darrin, do you think you could identify those two men who talked of the proposed destruction of the British battleships?"
"I am positive that I could do so, sir," Dave rejoined, "provided they were not disguised."
"Then you may meet them again, as we shall stop at various Mediterranean ports. If you do, sir, I wish you to report to me anything that you may find out about them. Mr. Dalzell did not see them, did he?"
"I may have passed them, sir," Dan replied, "but I would not know them, if meeting them, as the men whom Mr. Darrin mentions."
"Then, Captain, you will see to it," directed the Admiral, "that Mr. Dalzell has shore leave whenever Mr. Darrin does. The two young men will go ashore together so that Mr. Darrin, if opportunity presents, may indicate the plotters to Mr. Dalzell."
The Captain and the young officers bowed their understanding of this order.
"The presence of Gortchky here, taken with what Mr. Darrin overheard those men talking about, and coupled with what took place on the mole at Gibraltar, leads me to believe that some foreign government has plans for involving theUnited States government in serious complications," resumed the Admiral, after a pause. "Gortchky is not in charge of any very extensive plot. He is simply a tool of greater minds, and it may easily be that the pair whom Mr. Darrin overheard are those who are directing Gortchky in some really big and dangerous scheme. By the way, gentlemen, was either of you introduced to any young or charming woman ashore?"
"We were both presented to the Countess Ripoli, sir," Darrin answered, at once.
"And at the Countess's request, I took a little turn with her on one of the verandas, sir," Dan added.
"Tell me all about the Countess and your meeting with her, Mr. Dalzell," Admiral Timworth directed.
So Dan plunged at once into a narration of his chat with the Countess, to which Admiral Timworth listened attentively.
"Ripoli?" he mused aloud, at last. "I do not recall the name as that of a supposed secret service agent. Ripoli? Let me see."
From a drawer of his desk the Admiral drew out an indexed book. He turned over, presumably, to the letter "R," then scanned the writing on several pages.
"She has not been reported to me as a suspected secret service agent of any country," said the fleetcommander, aloud. "Yet she may very likely be a spy in the service of some ring of international trouble-makers. I will enter her name now, though I cannot place anything positive against it."
"If either of us should meet the Countess Ripoli again, sir," queried Dan, "have you any orders, sir, in that event?"
"If you do meet her," replied the admiral, "do not be too distant with her, and do not let her see that she is in any sense under suspicion. Just treat her as you would any charming woman whom you might meet socially. However, should you meet her again, you may report the fact to me. I shall doubtless have some further instructions for you, gentlemen, but that is all for the present. Captain, you will remain."
Formally saluting their superiors, Dave and Dan withdrew and returned to Dave's quarters. For half an hour Dan remained chatting with Dave, then went to his own quarters.
By daylight the "Hudson" was under way again, bound for Naples. Dan and Dave were called to stand their watches, and life on the battleship went on as usual.
It was but an hour after daylight when Admiral Timworth, who had remained up the rest of the night with Flag Lieutenant Simpson, sent a long message to the Navy Department at Washington.The message crackled out over the "Hudson's" wireless aerials, and was soon afterward received in Washington at the huge naval wireless station there.
"Good night, Simpson," said the Admiral, when his flag lieutenant reported that the message was in the hands of the wireless operator.
"Shall I leave any instructions for your being called, sir?" asked Lieutenant Simpson.
"Have me called at ten o'clock, unless a reply from the Navy Department should arrive earlier. In that case have me called at once."
The flag lieutenant is the personal aide of the fleet commander.
If the Admiral received an interesting reply from the Navy Department during the voyage to Naples, he at least concealed the fact from Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell. Ensigns, however, are quite accustomed to reserve on the part of admirals.
It was one o'clock one sunny afternoon when the "Hudson" entered the Bay of Naples. Her anchorage having already been assigned by wireless by the port authorities at Naples, the "Hudson" came to anchor close to the "Kennebec" and "Lowell" of the Mediterranean Fleet. Admiral Timworth now had three war vessels under his own eyes.
At four bells (two o'clock) an orderly calledat Dan's and Dave's quarters, with orders to report to the Admiral at once.
When the two young ensigns reached the Admiral's quarters they found Lieutenant Simpson there also.
"Be seated, gentlemen," directed the Admiral.
For a few moments Admiral Timworth shuffled papers on his desk, glancing briefly at some of them.
"Now, gentlemen," said the Admiral, wheeling about in his chair and looking impressively at Darrin and Dalzell, "it seems to me I had better preface my remarks by giving you some idea of the Fleet's unusual and special mission in the Mediterranean. That may lead you to a better comprehension of why a certain foreign power should wish to create, between Great Britain and the United States, a situation that would probably call for war between the two greatest nations of the world."
"In the first place," resumed the Admiral, "you must know that relations between Great Britain and the United States are, and for some time have been, of an especially cordial nature. Throughout the great war Great Britain has been compelled to buy a large part of her food and munitions in the United States. Except for her being able to do so she would have been forced out of the war and the Entente Allies would have been defeated. There are Englishmen who will make you feel that the saving force of the United States is greatly appreciated in England, just as there are other Englishmen who will remark stupidly that the United States as a seller, has had a great opportunity to grow rich at England's expense.
"There can be no doubt that thinking Englishmen are prepared to go to almost any extent to cultivate and keep the friendship of the United States, just as duller-witted Englishmen declarethat the United States depends upon England for existence.
"During the present war Great Britain has felt compelled to impose certain blockade restrictions upon our commerce with neutral powers in Europe. This has hampered our commerce to some extent, and there are many in the United States who feel deep resentment, and favor taking any steps necessary to compel England to abandon her interference with our merchant marine. Some Englishmen take an almost insolent attitude in the matter, while others beg us to believe that England hinders some of our commerce only in order to preserve her own national life. In other words, if she did not carefully regulate the world's trade with, for instance, Denmark and Holland, those countries would sell much of their importations to Germany, whereby the duration of the war would be prolonged by reason of help obtained by Germany in that manner.
"As you can readily understand, the situation is full of delicate points, and many sensibilities are wounded. There have been times when only a spark was needed to kindle a serious blaze of mutual wrath between Great Britain and the United States. And you may be sure there are some governments in this world that would be delighted to see feelings of deep hostility engendered between Britons and Americans.
"At present, however, there seems to be not the slightest cloud over the relations between Great Britain and our country.
"Now, Mr. Darrin, you have obtained clues to a startling plot that has for its object the causing of distrust between the two greatest nations. If one or more British warships should be sunk, by some means that we do not at present know, and if the blame could be plausibly laid against Americans, there would be hot-tempered talk in England and a lot of indignant retort from our country. It would seem preposterous that any Englishman could suspect the American government of destroying British warships, and just as absurd to think that Americans could take such a charge seriously. Yet in the relations between nations the absurd thing often does happen. Should England lose any warships it would seem that only Germany or Austria could be blamed, yet it might be possible for plotters to manage the thing so successfully, and with so much cleverness, that the United States would really seem to be proven to be the guilty party. Our duty as officers of the Navy can be performed only by frustrating the hideous plot altogether.
"So, Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell, while we are at Naples you will spend as much of your time as possible on shore. You will go about everywhere, as though to see the sights of the city and as ifbent on getting your fill of pleasure. Unless under pressing need you will not be extravagant in your expenditures, but will conduct yourselves as though sight-seeing within the limits of your modest pay as ensigns. You will, however, not be put to any expense in the matter, as all your expenditures will be returned to you out of an emergency fund in my hands.
"Your object in going ashore will be to report if you see Gortchky in Naples. I feel rather certain that the fellow is already there. You, Mr. Darrin, will also keep your eyes wide open for a sight of either or both of that pair whom you overheard talking at Monte Carlo. You will also note and report if you find the Countess Ripoli in Naples."
"And if we meet her and if she speaks to us, sir?" asked Dalzell. "What if she even wishes to entertain us, or to claim our escort?"
"Do whatever you can to please the Countess," replied the Admiral, promptly. "Be agreeable to her in any way that does not interfere with other and more important duties to which I have assigned you."
Judging by a sign from the fleet commander that the interview was now at an end, Dave and Dan rose, standing at attention.
"Perhaps I have given you a wrong impression in one particular," Admiral Timworth continued. "I do not wish you to understand, gentlemen,that I have intimated that any power, or any combination of powers, has directly ordered any act that would lead to the sinking of British warships. Governments, even the worst, do not act in that way. The thing which the power I have in mind may have done is to give certain secret agents a free hand to bring about war between England and the United States. Undoubtedly, the secret agents at the bottom of this conspiracy have been left free to choose their own methods. Thus the foreign government interested in this conspiracy could feel that it did notorderthe commission of a crime, no matter what might happen as the result. Now, gentlemen, have you any questions to ask?"
"None, sir," Dave Darrin responded immediately.
"None, sir," echoed Dalzell.
"Then you may go," rejoined Admiral Timworth, rising and returning the parting salutes of the young officers.
It was presently noised about among the ship's company that Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell had been ordered ashore on special duty.
"How did you work it?" Lieutenant Barnes irritably demanded of Danny Grin.
"Why? Do you want to work a trick yourself?" asked Dalzell, unsympathetically.
"No such luck for me," growled Barnes. "While in port I am ordered to take charge of shifting stores below decks."
"Fine!" approved Dan.
"And I wish I had you for junior officer on that detail," growled Barnes.
"If I get tired of staying ashore," Danny Grin proposed genially, "I'll make humble petition to be assigned as junior on your detail."