"
"A mere detail!"
"A mere detail--to murder a woman?"
"Pardon me, you misunderstand. I mean, the manner in which you are to
leave Nissr matters little, so long as you leave. I will see that you
are safely landed--that no harm arrives to you.
"But you--shall not remain with us. Now, kindly stay here. Lock the
cabin door after I have gone, and admit no one until I return. I will
signal you with two triple knocks, thus."
He illustrated the knocks, on the table, and, unlocking the door, left
the cabin in a black humor. The sound of the woman locking the door
after him, the knowledge that he had been obliged to make up a little
code for readmission, angered him as he rarely had been angered.
Self-protection, however, demanded these subterfuges. To let the
secret escape, and to be obliged to admit having been deceived by
a woman, would fatally lower his prestige with the Legionaries. How
could he, if known to be the dupe of a woman, command those hard, bold
men?
Humiliated, yet in his heart thankful that no one had yet penetrated
the secret--as Dr. Lombardo easily might have done, had he laid
forcible hands on "Captain Alden"--the Master set about the necessary
task of himself preparing a stateroom and providing the requisite
medical supplies.
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