"On the word--if word it can be called--of Karl von Harburg himself."
"The report was false. I am he whom I claim to be. This gentleman, Mr. Arnold Hythe, an officer of the Royal Navy, will corroborate my statement."
"I am aware that Captain Arnold Hythe was in the 'Aphrodite,'" said the Consul, who was still unconvinced. He was an old Cambridge man, and as such had both participated and had been the victim of more than one elaborate hoax. Such episodes, utterly foolish as they appear to be, serve their purpose in after life. They impart a considerable amount of shrewdness into the human mind.
"Can you offer me definite proof?" continued the Consul. "If so I should be delighted, since it is my opinion that the only vessel capable of meeting the 'Vorwartz' on anything like even terms was, or perhaps is, the 'Aphrodite.'"
Captain Restronguet bowed. "Sir, I feel honoured," he replied. "But since you cannot accept the word of a gentleman, I can offer no other solution."
"It is part of my duty to investigate matters," said the Consul reprovingly. "If I remember rightly a photograph of Sub-Lieutenant Hythe appeared in the illustrated papers at the time he was supposed to have been lost in Plymouth Sound. I cannot admit that the gentleman resembles the portrait."
"Have you a Navy List, sir?" asked the sub, speaking for the first time during the interview.
The Consul walked across the room and took from a bureau a copy of the familiar blue paper-covered book, which he handed to the sub.
"The 'Topaze' is in the roadstead," said Hythe, as he rapidly turned over the pages. "Ah, here we are. Commander the Hon. C. L. Sedgwyke, I know him, but I'm afraid he doesn't know me. Lieutenant Totterbull--h'm, yes, he might. But here's Dewerstone, he was in my term at Dartmouth. Would you mind if he were sent for, sir?"
"Certainly not. I will have a signal made at once," replied the Consul.