"That is true. Oberg's purpose having been served, he demanded half the property on board, or he would give notice to the Russian naval authorities that the pirate yacht was afloat. He attempted to blackmail my father, as he had already done so many times, but his scheme was frustrated. My father, because of his inhuman treatment of poor Elma, defied him, when it appears that Oberg, who was in Helsingfors, telegraphed to the admiral of the Russian fleet in the Baltic. The crew from the _Iris_ were at once landed at Riga, and only Mackintosh and my father put to sea again. Ah! my father was desperate, for he knew the merciless character of that man whose victim he had been for so long. They watched a Russian cruiser bearing down upon them, when, just as it drew near, they got off in a boat and blew up the yacht, which sank in three minutes with its ill-obtained wealth on board." "And your father?" She was silent, and I saw tears standing in her eyes. "There was a tragedy," Jack explained in a low, hoarse voice. "He and the captain did not, unfortunately, get sufficiently far from the yacht when they blew her up, and they went down with her." And I looked in silence at Muriel, who stood with her head bent and her white face covered with her hands. Almost at the same moment there was a low tap at the door, and the servant-maid announced: "Mr. Santini, miss." "Ah!" exclaimed Jack quickly, as Olinto entered the room. "Then you had my note! We have asked you here to reveal to us this dastardly plot which seemed to have been formed against Mr. Gregg and myself. As you know, I've had a narrow escape." "I know, signore. And the Signor Commendatore is also threatened." "By whom?" "By those who killed my poor wife, and who intended also to silence me," was his answer. "The same who compelled you take me to that house where the fatal chair was prepared, eh?"