departing passengers, she began to make her way back to her cabin. Her
progress was of necessity slow, and once in a crowded corner she was
stopped altogether.

Two men were talking together close to her. Their backs were towards
her, and in the general confusion they did not observe her futile
impatience to pass.

"Oh, I knew the fellow was a wrong 'un, all along," were the first words
that filtered to the girl's consciousness as she stood. "But I didn't
think he was responsible for that card trick, I must say. Young Bathurst
looked so abominably hangdog."

It was the Englishman, Norton, who spoke, and the man who stood with him
was Rudd. Cynthia realised the near presence of the latter with a
sensation of disgust. His drawling tones grated upon her intolerably.

"Waal," he said, "it was just that card trick that opened my eyes--I
shouldn't have noticed him, otherwise. I knew that young Bathurst was
square. He hasn't the brains to be anything else. And when this chap
butted in with his thick-ribbed impudence, I guessed right then that we
hadn't got a beginner to deal with. After that I watched for a bit, and
there were several little things that made me begin to reflect. So the
next evening I got a wireless message off to my partner in New York, and
I reckon that did the trick. When we came up alongside this morning, the
vultures were all ready for him. I took them to his cabin myself. There
was no fuss at all. He saw it was all up, and gave in without a murmur.
They were only just in time, though. In another thirty seconds, he would
have been off. It was a clever piece of work, I flatter myself, to net
Mr. Nat Verney so neatly."