"We came to the end of it at length," Tchigorsky went on. "We came to light and a long desolate valley whence we proceeded into an arid desert. Here we found our latitude and dismissed our guides. We ought to have shot them, but we refrained. It would have saved a deal of trouble. They were not less dangerous than mad dogs.
"We got into communication with our guides and servants in a day or two, and there ended the first and most thrilling volume of our adventures. How the Princess Zara has persecuted us ever since you know. And how we are going to turn the tables on that fiend of a woman you also know."
There was a long silence after Tchigorsky had finished and dusk began to fall. Geoffrey looked out of the window toward the sea. Suddenly he started.
"Blobber Rock," he gasped. "Covered! Not a vestige of it to be seen! It is high spring tide to-day, the highest of the month, and I had forgotten all about it."
"What difference does it make?" Tchigorsky asked.
"It fills the underground caves," Geoffrey cried. "We have locked the doors of the lower vault, and in that vault are the two Asiatics waiting the orders of their mistress. A spring tide fills that vault with water. If those men got that letter, as they are pretty sure to have done by this time, then they are dead men. Once they get into the cave the tide would cut them off, and they would be drowned like rats in a sewer. Of course, they would have no idea the vault was closed to them, and——"
"Quite right," Tchigorsky interrupted. "I never thought of that. And I had no knowledge of the state of the tide. And there are other caves where——"
He was going to say "where Marion is," but paused. Ralph seemed to divine what was in his mind. The reply seemed incontinent, but Tchigorsky understood.
"All the other caves are practically beyond high-water mark," he said. "What Geoffrey says is correct and our forgetfulness has saved the hangman a job. But wouldn't it be well to make sure?"
Tchigorsky was of that opinion.