“But he was not as he is now.”
“No,” confessed Jack.
“Now he talks of a black band of assassins, a metal ball that holds the fate of Dreyfus, and of the time between the falling of the red star and the death that must follow. By Jove! Diamond, I am afraid something is the matter with Merry’s upper deck!”
“You mean that his mind is affected?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“And he has not remained in the hotel much of any but a little while nights since the star came to him.”
“And one night he did not come in till three o’clock in the morning. Oh, yes, it is strange!”
“He never smiles any more. He is like a man contemplating death.”
“Or fighting it. There is a look of determination on his face, and he has said over and over that he must bring the Black Brothers to their end before ten days expire, or come to his own end. Now, who in the name of all things mysterious are the Black Brothers?”