“I have not worried very much about the expedition,” she said, “because I thought that my father’s map was sufficiently accurate to lead them to this fabulous river. The Colonial Office officials, whom my brother saw, took this view also.” “Why did he see them?” demanded Amber. “To get the necessary permission to prospect in British territory--it is a Crown possession, you know. After my brother had arrived in Africa, and I had received a cable to that effect, I had an urgent message from the Colonial Office, asking me to take the chart to Downing Street. I did so, and they made a careful examination of it, measuring distances and comparing them on another map.” “Well?” “Well,” she shrugged her shoulders, “the expedition is futile: if the River of Stars is not in Portuguese territory, it has no existence at all.” “Isn’t it in British territory?” “No, it is well over the border-line that marks the boundary between British and Portuguese West Africa.” Amber was puzzled. “What can I do?” he asked. “Wait,” she went on rapidly, “I have not told you all, for if my father’s map is true, the River of Stars is a fable, for they definitely located the spot indicated in his map, and there is neither forest nor river there, only a great dry plateau.” “You told them about the false compass?” “Lambaire was very frank to me before Francis sailed. He showed me the false and the true and I saw for myself the exact deflection; what is more, I took careful notice of the difference, and it was on this that the Colonial Office worked out its calculations. A cable has been sent to stop my brother, but he has already left the coast with the two men and is beyond the reach of the telegraph.” “Have you got the map with you?” She took the soiled chart from her bag and offered it to him. He did not take it, for his hands were still behind him, and suddenly she understood why and flushed. “Open it and let me see, please.” He studied it carefully: then he said, “By the way, who told the Colonial Office that I knew all about this business--oh, of course, you did.” She nodded. “I did not know what to do--I have lost my father in that country--for the first time I begin to fear for my brother--I have nobody to whom I can appeal for advice....” She checked herself quickly, being in a sudden terror lest this thief with his shaven head and his steel-clamped wrists should discover how big a place he held in her thoughts. “There is something wrong, some mystery that has not been unravelled: my father was a careful man and could not have made a mistake: all along we knew that the river was in British territory.” “The boundary may have been altered,” suggested Amber. But she shook her head. “No, I asked that question: it was demarcated in 1875, and has not been altered.” Amber looked again at the map, then at the girl. “I will see you to-morrow,” he said. “But----” She looked at him in astonishment. “I may not be able to get permission to-morrow.”