“Lladislas escaped and stole the child. Possibly he had been misinformed and thought he was stealing his own child; I am not certain as to this. At all events, he passed her off as such. He took her to America, changed his name to Shishkin, and became professor in one of the small colleges. He still lives, and I think can be made to testify. I learned this only yesterday, and am still considering how to go about the matter. “So much for the Princess. Now for the gold. I learned recently, through the same agent who gave me the first information in the matter of the Princess, that the Brotherhood had obtained a clue to the _Orkney’s_ gold. My information was fragmentary, but I learned that it had dispatched an agent to New York to see a Mr. Ashton Caruth, to whom had been sent a letter which was supposed to tell something about the gold. I cabled Struve, our consul-general at New York, to get that letter at all hazards. He tried, but he bungled somewhere. His men killed a valet of Caruth’s, but did not get the letter. He does not know who did, but he believes it is now in the hands of a woman calling herself Marie Fitzhugh, who was in Caruth’s apartments that night, and who is probably the agent of the Brotherhood. She has not been identified yet, but she will be soon. Struve is keeping a close watch on her, and thinks that sooner or later she will lead us to the gold. “So the case stands. I am awaiting developments. Any day--any hour--news may come. Did I speak too strongly when I said I had hopes?” The Minister sprang to his feet and thrust out his hand enthusiastically. Naturally optimistic, he was already certain of triumph. “Hopes!” he cried. “Hopes! They are more than hopes, my dear Baron; they spell triumph.” “I think so.” The Baron rose. “I have three months’ time,” he added. “Much may be done in three months.” “Much indeed! Keep me advised.” The Baron went out, but in ten minutes he was back with a paper in his hand. “I found this on my desk,” he cried. “It came in half an hour ago. Read it.” The message ran as follows: NEW YORK.--Shishkin announces departure to dredge in Baltic for scientific purposes. Goes on yacht of Ashton Caruth. Takes daughter with him. CHAPTER TWELVE The _Sea Spume_, with its curiously assorted passengers, sailed from New York on Saturday. Besides Caruth, it carried Marie Fitzhugh, Professor Shishkin, his pretended daughter, Thomas Wilkins, and several bewhiskered individuals whose names ended in _ski_ or _vitch_. They were the divers whom Miss Fitzhugh had selected and Professor Shishkin had brought along ostensibly to explore the bottom of the Baltic for proofs of his theory of rising sea-floors. Caruth felt sure that they were nihilists and suspected them of having bombs on their persons, but it was too late to balk at that.