That Baggin had based all his plans on the supposition that such an island existed, and could be discovered, we now know. He was the possessor of an imagination, but his geographical knowledge was faulty.
The "idea," that scrap of paper which Count Poltavo had risked his neck to obtain, was simple enough now—up to a point.
THE "IDEA" THE SOLUTION
"Suppose we separated, "Some spot," meant
where to meet? Must be some place on land.
some spot; yet that would
be dangerous."
"Otherwise, must be The latitude and longitude
easily remembered. of sea rendezvous
Especially as it is difficult must be easy to remember.
for non-technical (?) to fix in
mind, and one cipher
makes all the difference."
"Suggest we rendezvous
at Lolo."
This last was the only part of the little clue that offered any difficulty to T. B. The Gazetteer supplied no explanation.
Nor could the Admiralty help. The naval authorities did their best to unravel the mystery of "Lolo."
A conference of the Ambassadors met in London, and it was jointly agreed that the nations should act in concert to bring the Maria Braganza and her crew to justice as speedily as possible. The Brazilian Government agreed to indemnify the Powers in their action, and, in the event of the destruction of the ship being necessitated by resistance on the part of its rebel captain, to accept an agreed sum as compensation.
There are surprising periods of inaction in the record of all great accomplishments, which those who live, rather than those who read the stories of achievements, realise.
There were weeks of fretting and days of blank despair in one room at Scotland Yard. For the examination of all clues led to the one end. Somewhere in the world were the Nine Men of Cadiz—but where, none could say. Every port in every civilised land was alert. Captains of mail steamers, of grimy little tramps, of war vessels of every nation, watched for the battleship. Three British cruisers, detached unostentatiously from the Home Fleet, cruised unlikely seas, but with no good result.
Then began the new terror.
T. B. had always had one uncomfortable feeling, a feeling that the dissipation of the Nine had not dispelled, and that was the knowledge that somewhere in Europe the machinery set up with devilish ingenuity by Poltavo still existed. Who were the desperate and broken men who acted as agents to the Nine? Whoever they were, they had been well chosen.