"It has been a habit with me for many years to never be surprised....
When I appeared on deck to give the code to the commander of that
vessel this habit was unmoored.... A tall, square-jawed man approached
me with a twinkle in his clear blue eyes.... I looked at him
inquiringly and a little reminiscently until I heard him speak.... 'I
see the loaf of bread came in handy,' he said, extending me his
bony hand.... 'I thought I left you at Ekaterinburg,' I exclaimed,
recalling the moments we spent after our escape from the abandoned
tunnel.... 'Oh,' he laughed, 'YOURS was not a one-man job; there are
others in the world besides yourself intrusted with state secrets....
'But what do you know about the bread, you just spoke of it?'
"'My company was following on behind,' he answered. 'When we came
round the bend we saw you scrapping with that outlaw from Trebizond.
You did quite well; you had all but three of them laid out in manly
fashion when you got that clip on the back of the head. Then we
stepped in and conducted your party to their present quarters ...
thought it better for you to remain in the tent while the authorities
here locked up those cutthroats for your disappearance.'
"'Have you the CODE WORD?' I asked.... He whispered it in my ear....
Then I lettered the order.... Finally he asked, 'Would you not like to
meet my SISTER who has been so much _interested_ in you?'
"His sister! I had never heard of her!... 'Of course!' I answered
amiably enough for one completely stumped....
"He called a petty officer and said a few words in an undertone.... In
a minute a radiant young woman with springing steps glided gracefully
down the deck.... She was not, in her present attire, much different
from Maria ... but as she drew near I noted the difference at
a glance.... She came forward quickly and held out her hand.
'Congratulations, Mr. Fox!' she said smiling.... The Métropole!'
I gasped,--'what brings YOU here?' 'Still asking questions!' she
coquetted prettily. 'I merely called, of course, to inform you
that the sapphire is in America!'... I thought hard for more than
a minute.... Then it occurred to me that I had seen her in a dozen
disguises shadowing me from Buckingham to the room upstairs on
Downing Street,--to charm me later at The Hague--to disappear like a
will-o'-the-wisp,--then to fascinate me at the Métropole.'...
"Well, the commander of the vessel tells me that it is _fourteen
hundred miles down stream to Woosung_ and that the voyage will take
seven days from there.... With his _code_ word still ringing in
my ears to be repeated to one man at _Berlin_, to another man in
_England_, another in _Japan_, and to a dignitary in _Italy_, the
mission I have undertaken shall have been successfully discharged,
so far as _history_ and _public policy_ is concerned.... But there
is _another_ mission that I shall, some day, undertake that will be
enshrined in lovely memories and lively fancies until _that day_ shall
come."