"You had much better come quietly," the latter advised. "You'll have to come, anyway, and if you're really afraid of being arrested again, I should think Count Sabatini would be the best man to aid your escape." "But he won't let me escape," Starling protested. "He doesn't understand danger. I am not made like him. My nerve has gone. I came into this too late in life." "Jump!" Arnold ordered, linking his arm into his companion's. They landed, somehow, upon the island. Arnold pointed to the boat. "Please be sensible," he begged, "now, at any rate. There may be people passing at any moment." "I was safe in there," Starling mumbled. "Why the devil couldn't you have left me alone?" Arnold bent over his oars. "Safe!" he repeated, contemptuously. "You were doing the one thing which a guilty man would do. People would have known before long that you were there, obviously hiding. I think that Count Sabatini will propose something very much better." "Perhaps so," Starling muttered. "Perhaps he will help me to get away." They reached the village and Arnold paid for the hire of his boat. Then he hurried Starling into the car, and a moment or two later they were off. "Is it far away?" Starling asked, nervously. "Ten minutes' ride. Sabatini has arranged it all very well. We get out, cross a meadow, and find him waiting for us in the punt." "You won't leave me alone with him on the river?" Starling begged. "No, I shall be there," Arnold promised. "There's nothing would suit him so well," Starling continued, "as to see me down at the bottom of the Thames, with a stone around my neck. I tell you I'm frightened of him. If I can get out of this mess," he went on, "I'm off back to New York. Any job there is better than this. What are we stopping for? Say, what's wrong now?" "It's all right," Arnold answered. "Step out. We cross this meadow on foot. When we reach the other end, we shall find Sabatini. Come along." They turned toward the river, Starling muttering, now and then, to himself. In a few minutes they came in sight of the punt. Sabatini was still there, with his head reclining among the cushions. He looked up and waved his hand. "A record, my young friend!" he exclaimed. "I congratulate you, indeed. You have been gone exactly fifty-five minutes, and I gave you an hour and a half at the least. Our friend Starling was glad to see you, I hope?" "He showed his pleasure," Arnold remarked dryly, "in a most original manner. However, here he is. Shall I take you across now?" "If you please," Sabatini agreed. He sat up and looked at Starling. The latter hung his head and shook like a guilty schoolboy. "It was so foolish of you," Sabatini murmured, "but we'll talk of that presently. They were civil to you at the police court, eh?" "I was never charged," Starling replied. "They couldn't get their evidence together." "Still, they asked you questions, no doubt?" Sabatini continued.