Gorman dropped his pipe and sat upright suddenly.
“Good Lord!” he said. “England. Germany. I say, Donovan, if this is true——”
Donovan motioned him to silence with a wave of his hand.
“Salissa,” he said, “is a neutral State.”
“But,” said Gorman, “if there’s a European war——”
Donovan ignored him.
“Smith,” he said, “that admiral informs me that he has orders to deport us from this island and dump us down somewhere in Sicily. That so?”
“Yes, sir,” said Smith. “Those are the Emperor’s orders. Very urgent orders. In the case of your refusal to obey, the admiral is to fire on the palace.”
“So I understand,” said Donovan. “Now what I want you to do is to go off to the steamer and negotiate with the admiral.”
“Yes, sir.”