"I'd do it myself but the old fox suspects me, I half fancy, and if he saw me in the vicinity he'd change his plans. You'd better take two of your huskiest firemen with you, Billy. He's an ugly customer, I fancy, and might put up a bad fight."
"U-m-m-m, some job," mused Billy. "Why don't you put the whole thing up to the captain?"
"It would do no good the way things are now, and he might get wind of it and hide the jewels so that they couldn't be found. Anyhow, we've no proof against him till he is actually caught throwing the jewels out in that life-preserver to his confederates in the motor-boat."
"I see, you want to catch him red-handed, but what about those cipher radios?"
"There's no way of proving that I read the cipher right," said Jack. "Our only way is to do as I suggested."
"I hear that Rosenstein has offered a big reward for the recovery of the diamonds," said Billy. "He's up and about again, you know."
"Well, Billy, I think he'll have his diamonds back by to-morrow noon if we follow out my plan."
And so it was arranged. The next morning Jack received a message from Southampton:
"All ready. Does our man suspect anything?"
This was Jack's answer: