"We had one most extraordinary thing happen in this place," said he. "Nobody has got to the bottom of it yet." "Really!" cried Mr. Hobhouse. "How very interesting! What was it?" "Well," said the doctor, "one morning when I had that fellow O'Brien staying with me, a young man walked into my house under the impression--so he said--that it was my cousin's. Whether he told the truth or not I've often wondered since. He had no cap, was buttoned up in an oilskin coat (though I may say it was a fine morning) and talked with a distinct foreign accent. I could swear it was German, but O'Brien, who contradicted everything, stuck to it it was Russian. A lot he knew about Russian! He was only in the house about five minutes, for when he discovered his mistake--or what he said was his mistake--he went off. And that is all I saw of him personally." "But did he go to Mr. Rendall's then?" The doctor nodded. "He turned up there and spent two or three nights in the house. The chap had the impudence of the devil. He said he had been landed from one of our own cruisers and didn't want to be recognised as an officer, so would they be kind enough to lend him a coat and let him lock his uniform coat up in a drawer! He was in his oilskin all this time, you must remember. A day or two later my cousins grew suspicious and opened that drawer. What do you think they found?" "Maps!" guessed Mr. Hobhouse. "Nothing at all! He had never had a uniform coat. They promptly wired to the Naval Authorities, locked him in his room meanwhile, and when Commander Whiteclett appeared he arrested him and took him off." "And who was he?" The doctor turned to his guest with an expression of considerable indignation. "The damned secrecy of these navy people is past belief! Do you know that not even my cousins who caught the man for them were ever told a single word about him! Whiteclett took him straight off to his drifter without so much as saying good-bye--much less thank you--to my cousin Philip, and that was the last of it!" "Then you never learned who the fellow was?" "He gave his name as Merton--George or was it Roger?--Merton. But you can believe as much of that as you like." "And did he land from a cruiser?" "Not likely! But nobody was ever told how he did land. They found what they said was a parachute, but it's my belief that was either a blind or it was really some kind of collapsible boat. I never saw the thing myself, and O'Brien, who did see it, having heard somebody say it was a parachute, of course swore it was not." "And did the man do nothing while he was on the island?" "God knows what he may not have done! Naturally he told nobody what he was after, and no one actually saw him doing anything, but there are plenty of stories." "What kind of stories?" "Oh, the usual kind, that he was seen flashing lights on the shore and carrying petrol tins. But you can believe as much of them as you like."