"They seem to have been tampered with."
"You mean—cut?"
"Afraid they are, my lord."
"Then the island—so far as the telephone goes—the island is isolated?"
"Yes, my lord."
The old man's face, which had been flushed, became deadly pale, and his stubborn lower lip began to tremble.
"Who can have done this? Who? Who?"
The attendant, terrified by the fierce eye that looked into his face, was answering with a vacant stare and a shake of the head when the Sirdar entered the office, accompanied by the Commandant of Police, and both were as white as if they had seen a ghost.
"Well, what is it now?" demanded the Consul-General, whereupon the Sirdar answered—
"The Commandant's men have got him, but——"