“Mr. Hemingway,” the major said, “you seem to be the person best qualified to make a statement in this matter. Will you, therefore, repeat for the benefit of us all, the communication which you made in confidence to Mrs. Appleby and myself this afternoon?” “In confidence--to Mrs. Appleby!” the doctor snorted, scarcely taking the trouble to lower his voice. “No wonder it was all over the post in less than half an hour.” In the general eagerness to hear Hemingway, however, his growling passed unnoticed, and the young lieutenant, shifting unhappily from one foot to the other, commenced his story. “In the first place,” he said, glancing appealingly around the circle of officers, “and as I told Major Appleby, I don’t want any one to think that I’ve been up to any sneaking or underhand business. But when a thing came right up and slapped me in the face I couldn’t help taking notice of it, especially after the colonel told all of us that he wanted us to be on our guard during the course of these experiments.” “Cut out the excuses,” protested one of his auditors. “It’s the facts we want to get at.” “Well, then,” cried Hemingway defiantly, “I say that Captain Grail has been having dealings with Sasaku, the Jap waiter at the mess, which are open to very grave suspicion. I am in charge of the mess this month, as you all know, and I had noticed that Grail seemed to have considerable to say to the Jap when he dropped in for his meals; but I never attached any importance to the matter until to-day at noon, when I saw him hand Sasaku a long envelope, which the latter immediately slipped under his jacket. Then, I will admit, I began to get a little worked up, for there was a certain furtiveness about the transaction which I didn’t altogether like; so, as soon as Grail left, I promptly nailed Sasaku, and demanded to know what it was the captain had given him.” “And he lied, of course!” commented a former mess manager, out of the depths of his experience. “Probably told you that you must have been mistaken.” “No,” returned Hemingway; “he simply informed me coolly that it was none of my business, and gave me notice that he was quitting his job.” “Why didn’t you grab the impudent beggar, and search him?” another officer broke in. “Well”--the lieutenant flushed again--“I didn’t want to make any blunder, don’t you know, so I decided to report the matter first to Major Appleby before taking any definite action; and by the time I got back to the mess again the Jap had cleared out, bag and baggage.” “Cleared out! Where?” “That’s the question.” Hemingway shook his head. “I’ve had Corporal Stone and half a dozen men out ransacking the town for him since four o’clock, and not a trace can be found. We think he must have sneaked aboard a train somehow, and got away, unless----” He paused. “Unless,” Major Appleby pointedly finished, “his departure may have some connection with the far more serious matter of the colonel’s disappearance.”