Presently the subject of Flirt's indiscretion and Fordyce's appearance at the Otherport Police Court came up, and the Hon. Derek, hearing the story at full length--Noel had but briefly outlined the account when Flirt smuggled herself on board--laughed heartily at Nell's impersonation of her daughter. "There is another yarn in connection with the affair," continued Fordyce, encouraged by his superior officer's interest. "This Mindiggle blighter is a queer fish. I went to see him before he took out the summons and tried to put him off. He seemed to know all about my being on R19, when she was leaving Otherport, and also her destination. Then he tried to, well, not exactly blackmail me, but something preciously close to the wind. The rotter offered to overlook Flirt's lapse of manners if I consented to do a bit of smuggling--to take a small parcel of diamonds to some pal of his in Petrograd." The Hon. Derek had listened in silence to the Sub's narrative. At this point he sat bolt upright. "Fordyce," he exclaimed, "why on earth didn't you spin this yarn to me before? Diamonds to Petrograd! I suppose you didn't bring any of the infernal stuff on board?" CHAPTER XV Picking up the Pilot "Sorry, sir," said Fordyce. "I didn't attach any particular importance to the fellow's request at the time. I boomed him off, absolutely. Refused point-blank to touch his blessed diamonds." "I am glad to hear that," said the Hon. Derek. "At the same time, it is a regrettable matter that you did not report the affair to a competent naval or military authority. I'll briefly outline the facts concerning these so-called diamonds. The stuff is actually a super-powerful explosive, a secret compound of which one ingredient is known to be obtainable only in a few isolated districts in Cornwall. Our Munitions Department has been attending to the matter for months past. The analysts have discovered that the stuff--they call it nitro-talcite--is capable of being detonated only at a temperature below -5° C. And the strange part of it is that nobody in the department has yet been able to compound the explosive. All the data has been based upon the examination of a small quantity that was seized on a vessel bound for Archangel--so Sir Josiah Sticklewood, the Admiralty explosive expert, tells me. Who the makers of the stuff are and how they get it out of the country has been a mystery." "It's fortunate that in England the temperature rarely falls to much below freezing-point," remarked Fordyce.