LAND ik WATER 
April 12, 191; 
IContinued from pagt 20.) 
we ought to have looked at the outside, to have looked at 
the surface of things. 1 was assisted by two further clues. 
I liad noticed that the uprights of the ladder which Ya-Bon 
iiiUst have taken from here had a few grains of sand on them, 
l.astly, I remember that Ya-Bon had drawn a triangle on 
the pavement with a piece of chalk and that tliis triangle 
liad only two sides, the third side being formed by the foot 
of the wall. Why this detail ? Why not a third line in 
chalk ? ... To make a long story short. I Ut a cigarette, 
sat down upstairs, on the deck of the barge, and, looking 
round me, said to myself, ' Lupin my son, five minutes and 
no more.' When 1 say, ' Lupin my son,' I simply can't 
resist myself. By the time I had smoked a quarter of the 
cigarette, I was there." 
" You had found out ? " 
' I had found out. I can't say which of the factors at 
my disposal kindled the spark. No doubt it was all of them 
together. It's a rather compUcated psychological operation, 
you know, like a chemical experiment. The correct idea 
is formed suddenly by mysterious reactions and combinations 
among the elements in which it existed in a potential stage. 
And then I was carrying within myself an intuitive principle, 
a very special incentive which obliged me, which inevitably 
compelled me to discover the hiding place : Little Mother 
Cor? He was there! I knew for certain that failure on my 
part, prolonged weakness or hesitation would mean her 
destruction. There was a woman there, within a radius of 
a dozen yards or so. I had to find out and I found out. The 
spark was kindled. The elements combined. And I made 
straight for the sand heap, I at once saw the marks of 
footsteps and, almost at the top, the signs of a slight stamping. 
1 started digging. You can imagine my excitement when 
I first touched one of the bags. But I had no time for 
excitement. I shifted a few bags. Coralie was there, 
unconscious, hardly protected from the sand which was slowly 
stifling her, trickling tlirough, stopping up her eyes, suffocating 
her. I needn't tell you more, need I ? The wharf was 
deserted, as usual. I got her out. I hailed a taxi. I first 
took her home. Then I turned my attention to Essarfes, 
to Vacherot the porter ; and, when I had discovered my 
enemy's plans, I went and made my arrangements with Dr. 
Geradec. Lastly, I had you moved to the private hospital 
OR the Boulevard de Montmorency and gave orders for Coralie 
to be taken there too. And there you are, captain ! All 
done in three hours. When the doctor's car ■ brought me 
back to the hospital, Essarfe arrived at the same time, to 
have his injuries seen to, I had him safe." 
Don Luis ceased speaking. There were no words necessary 
between the two men. One had done the other the greatest 
-ervices which a man has it in his p)ower to render ; and 
the other knew that these were services for which no thanks 
are adequate. And he also knew that he would never have 
an opportunity to prove his gratitude. Don Luis was in a 
manner above those proofs, owng to the mere fact that they 
were impossible. There was no service to be rendered to a 
man like him disposing of his resources and performing 
miracles with the same ease which we perform the trivial 
actions of everyday life. 
Patrice once again pressed his hand warmly, and without a 
word. Don Luis accepted the homage of this silent emotion 
and said : 
" If ever people talk of Arsdne Lupin before you, captain, 
^ay a good word for him, won't you ? He deserves it." 
And, he added with a laugh, " It's funny, but, as I get on in 
Hfe, I find myself caring about my reputation. The devil 
was old, the devil a monk would be ! " 
He pricked up his ears and, after a moment, said . 
" Captain, it is time for us to part. Present my respects 
to Little Mother Coralie. I shall not have known her, so to 
speak, and she will not know me. It is better so. Good- 
bye, captain." 
" Then we are taking leave of each other ? " 
' Yes, I hear M. Masseron. Go to him, will you, and have 
the kindness to bring him here ? " 
Patrice hesitated. Why was Don Luis sending him to meet 
M. Masseron ? Was it so that he; Patrice, might intervene 
in his favour ? " 
The idea appealed to him ; and he ran up the companion-way. 
Then a thing happened which Patrice was destined never 
to understand, something very quick and inexplicable. It 
was as though a long and gloomy adventure were to finish 
-uddenly with melodramatic imexpectedness. 
Patrice met M. Masseron on the deck of the barge. 
" Is your friend here ? " asked the magistrate. 
■' Yes. But one word first : you don't mean to ... i 
•' Have no fear. We shall do him no harm, on the contrary." 
The answer was so definite that the officer could find 
nothing more to say. M. Masseron went aown first, with 
Patrice following him. 
" Hullo ! " said Patrice. " I left the cabin door open 1 " 
He pushed the door. It opened. But Don Luis was no 
longer in the cabin. 
Immediate inquiries showed that no one had seen him 
go, neither the men remaining on the wharf nor those who 
had already crossed the gangway. 
" When you have time to examine this barge thoroughly, " 
said Patrice, "I've no doubt you wU find it pretty nicely faked." 
" So your friend has probably escaped through some trap- 
door and swum away ? " asked M. Masseron, who seemed 
greatly annoyed." 
" I expect so," said Patrice, laughing. " Unless he's gone 
off on a submarine ! " 
" A submarine in the Seine ? " 
" Why not ? I don't delieve that there's any limit to mv 
friend's resourcefulness and determination." 
But what completely dumbfounded M. Masseron was the 
discovery, on the table, of a letter directed to himself, the 
letter which Don Luis had placed there at the beginning of 
his interview with Patrice. 
" Then he knew that I should come here ? He toresa \v, 
even before we met, that I should ask him to fulfil certain 
formalities ? " 
The letter ran as follows : 
" Sir, — Forgive my departure and believe that I, on niy 
side, quite understand the reason that brings you Ivri-. 
My position is not in fact regular ; and you are entitled to 
ask me for an explanation. I w.U give you that 
explanation some day or other. You wiU then see that, 
if i serve France in a manner of my own, that manivr 
is not a bad one and that my country will owe me some 
gratitude for the immense services, if I may venture to use the 
word, which I have done her during this war. On the day 
of our interview, I should hke you to thank me, sir. You 
will then — for I know your secret ambition — be Prefect of 
Police. Perhaps I shall even be able personally to forward 
a nomination which I consider weU-deserved. I will exert 
myself in that direction without delay. 
I have the honour to be, etc." 
M. Masseron remained silent for a time. 
" A strange character ! " he said, at last. " Had he been 
willing, we should have given him great things to do. That 
was what I was instructed to tell him." 
. " You may be sure sir," said Patrice, " that the things 
which he is actually doing are greater still." And he added, 
" A strange character, as you say. And stranger still, more 
powerful and more extraordinary thaji you can imagine. If 
each of the allied nations had had three or four men of his 
stamp at its disposal, the war would have been over in six 
months." 
" I quite agree," said M. Masseron. " Only those mm 
are usually solitary, intractable people, who act solely upon 
their own judgment and refuse to accept any authority. 
I'll tell you what : they're something like that famous 
adventurer who, a few years ago, compelled the Kaiser to 
visit him in prisoa and obtain his release . . . and after- 
wards, owing to a disappointment in love, threw himself into 
the sea from the chffs at Capri." 
" Who was that ? " 
" Oh, you know the fellow's name as well as I do 1 . . . 
Lupin, that's it : Arsene Lupin." 
The "End. 
There is no more useful book of reference published 
annually than Mr. E. C. Austen- Leigh's Clubs. (Spottis- 
woode, Bjdlantyne and Co., New Street Square. 5s.) It con- 
tains in small compass a list of over 4,000 clubs, with the 
names of secretaries, numbers of members, terms of sub- 
scriptions and entrance fees, etc. These multitudinous clubs 
are frequented by the British in all parts of the world, and 
not only in the Empire, and in addition there are particulars 
of 1,500 Golf Clubs. No volume that is published gives at a 
glance a more wonderful illustration of what a world-occupying 
race the British are and how they cling to their habits. 
Sir Arthur Pearson, assisted by an influential committee, 
is organising a gigantic bazaar at the Royal Albert Hall 
during the second week in May. The contents of the stalls 
will, it is announced, be provided largely by the great London 
mercantile houses. The object of this bazaar is to help to place 
the Blinded Soldiers' After-care Fund upon a permanently 
satisfactory footing. The purpose at St. Dunstan's is to teach 
men to be independent of the terrible loss of sight, but the 
teaching over, the men have to settle in life, and an orga- 
nisation is necessary for their future well-being, for {pecuniary 
assistance is often needed, especially at the outset. Sir Arthur 
suggests that the week of the bazaar shall be made a special 
occasion for a great national offering to the blinded soldiers 
who have given their sight to keep the world free. 
