Taking care the door was thoroughly secured this time, Nick stationed Lord Vinton, with the pistol, outside, giving him orders to shoot down the first man who should appear. This injunction was given loudly enough to reach the ears of the men inside, and Nick was satisfied there would be no attempt to break out again--at least, not unless the yacht was recaptured by its original owners. It was just as this arrangement was effected that a tubbylike figure, in red-and-blue pajamas, came pattering along the deck, holding a revolver in its hand. “Hands up!” yelled Nick Carter, presenting his jackknife at the face of the pajama man, who, of course, was Jared Spanner. Mr. Spanner had never been remarkable for physical courage, and he let his revolver fall with a crash on the deck. He could not see what the jackknife was in the gloom, but he took it for granted that it was a heavy firearm of some kind. “Back to bed!” commanded Nick sternly. “I heard a noise outside and I left him alone for a minute,” explained Lord Vinton penitently. Spanner padded back in his bare feet. When he was in the stateroom once more, the detective took the precaution of tying his hands behind him and fastening him in his berth with a rope that was twisted around the iron framework below. There was one more important thing to do, and that was to find Mrs. van Dietrich. With the information he had as to the whereabouts of her cabin, it was not difficult for Nick Carter to discover it. Then he solved the problem of entering, and, after a knock, for propriety’s sake, he went in. Mrs. van Dietrich was of a philosophical turn of mind. That was proved by the fact that she was in a comfortable bed, with her clothes still on, but with a blanket pulled up under her arms, and sleeping as calmly as if she had been in her own room at the hotel. Nick Carter assured himself that she was really in a natural sleep, and then quietly withdrew, to wait till Chick and reënforcements should arrive. It was an hour later, and the sun was just showing itself over the rim of the eastern horizon, when Chick, with eight men--guests, porters, and the two proprietors of the hotel--rowed up to the sea ladder of the _Idaline_. It was embarrassing to Nick Carter to receive so many and such profuse thanks for recovering the three guests who had disappeared from the hotel, and he begged both Mallory and Savage to let it pass. Nick Carter arranged to leave a guard on the yacht, when Mrs. van Dietrich was to be escorted to shore by the detective, Lord Vinton, and Harvey L. Drago, with Chick, in state. It was only after considerable delay that this was done, however, for Mrs. van Dietrich was a leader of fashion, and she could not appear in public until her own maid, Mary Cook, had been brought from the hotel, with a complete change of raiment and various toilet necessaries.