The room in which the Nine Men sat was large, even as rooms go in Spain. It had the appearance of a small lecture hall. Heavy curtains of dark blue velvet hid the tall windows, and electric lights, set at intervals in the ceiling, provided light. The little desks at which the men sat were placed so as to form a horseshoe. Of the nine, it is possible that one knew the other, and that some guessed the identity of all. It was difficult to disguise Grayson, who in his life of inactivity had grown exceedingly stout, and yet with all the trickery of the black cloaks they wore and the crêpe masks that hid their faces, it was hard enough to single even him from his fellows. The last man had reached his seat when one who sat at the extreme end of the horseshoe on the president's right, rose and asked: "What of Poltavo, brother?" "He has not yet arrived," was the muffled reply. "Perhaps, then, it is well that I should say what I have to say before his return," said the first speaker. He rose to his feet, and eight pairs of eyes turned towards him. "Gentlemen," he began, "the time has come when our operations must cease." A murmur interrupted him, and he stopped. "What is it?" he asked sharply. "Let us have more light," said a mask at the end of the horseshoe, and pointed to the ceiling where only half of the lights glowed. Baggin nodded, and the man rose and made his way to the curtained recess where the switches were. "No, no, no!" said Baggin quickly--for he suddenly realised that there was something hidden by the curtain, a sinister figure of a man in convict shirt, fingering the edge of a brand-new knife. So Baggin pictured him. The masked man halted in surprise. "No, no," repeated Baggin, and beckoned him back. "For what I have to say I need no light; you interrupt me, brother." With a muttered apology the man resumed his seat. "I have said," continued Baggin, "that the time has come when we must seriously consider the advisability of dispersing." A murmur of assent met these words. "This organisation of ours has grown and grown until it has become unwieldy," he went on. "We are all business men, so there is no need for me to enlarge upon the danger that attends the house that undertakes responsibilities which it cannot personally attend to. "We have completed a most wonderful organisation. We have employed all the ingenuities of modern science to further our plans. We have agents in every part of Europe, in India, Egypt, and America. So long as these agents have been ignorant of the identity and location of their employers, we were safe. To ensure this, we have worked through Count Poltavo, a gentleman who came to us some time ago--under peculiar conditions.