‘I don’t know what makes you think I have taken any memoranda,’ he protested. ‘Just as you please, sir,’ I said drily. ‘I should have been gratified if you had so far confided in me as to let me glance inside that safe. But you are right to be cautious.’ [Illustration: “He bent forward to listen, and as he did so I launched my clenched fist at his right temple with my full force.”] His eyes turned once more in the direction of the safe, in spite of himself. I saw a struggle going on in his mind. ‘There is no necessity for you to decide hastily,’ I said in my blandest tones. ‘I am as anxious as you are that you should have every possible security. If you are so far satisfied as to release me from arrest, we can sit down and talk over things quietly.’ This hint had the desired effect. The judge called in the policeman, and informed him that his services were no longer required. As soon as I heard the outer door of the building clang to on the departing officer, I drew nearer the judge, lowering my voice to a confidential whisper, as I said-- ‘Now you shall have the truth.’ He bent forward to listen, and as he did so I launched my clenched fist at his right temple with my full force, and he dropped senseless without so much as a sigh. The moment I was satisfied that he was unconscious I stepped to the door and locked it. Then I rifled his pocket of his bunch of keys, picked out the right one, and opened the safe, all without drawing breath. The contents of the safe were chiefly official law papers, which I did not waste time over. But in a narrow tray at the top I found something that interested me more. It was nothing less than a draft treaty--a treaty to be made between the Norwegian Ministry, acting without the knowledge of their King, and the Imperial Government of Russia! I did not stay to read the document through. After a hasty look to make sure I was leaving nothing else of importance behind, I locked the safe, drew off its key from the bunch, and dropped the other keys on the floor beside the stunned man, slipped quietly out of the room and out of the house. Instead of returning to my hotel, I made my way down to the harbour--I did not dare to risk trying to get a train. In the harbour I hired a small fishing-boat with a sail, and put straight out to sea. It was on the tossing waters of the Cattegat by moonlight that I took in the provisions of the extraordinary compact between the Norwegian conspirators and their Imperial ally. The document had been carefully drawn up, evidently with an eye to the public opinion of Europe, which would naturally be scandalised by an alliance between the great Slave despotism and a Teutonic commonwealth.