increased it. Lars Larssen was a craftsman taking up the commonest tools
of his craft and using them to create a work of art of consummate build.

His present work was to keep alive the personality of Clifford Matheson
until the Hudson Bay scheme should be launched. To use Matheson's name
on the prospectus, and to use his influence with Sir Francis Letchmere
and others. Dead, Matheson was to serve him better than alive.

But the shipowner did not build his edifice on the foundation merely of
what Arthur Dean had told him. He had to satisfy himself more
accurately.

A string of rapid, apparently unconnected orders almost bewildered the
young secretary:--

"First, get a list of the big hotels at Monte Carlo. Engage the trunk
telephone and call up each hotel until you find where Sir Francis
Letchmere is staying. Give no name.... Buy a pair of workman's boots to
fit you. Get them in some side street shop. Bring them with you--don't
ask them to send.... Take this typewriting"--he took a letter from his
pocket and carefully clipped off a small portion--"and match it with a
portable travelling machine. Can you recognize the make of machine
off-hand?"

Dean examined the portion of typed matter, and shook his head.

"You must train yourself to observe detail. Looks to me like the type on
a 'Thor' machine. Try the Thor Co. first. If not there, go to every
typewriter firm in Paris until it matches.... Go to the offices of the
Compagnie Transatlantique and get a list of sailings on the