"Well, gentlemen," began Tiel, "I don't think we need beat about the bush. Captain Ashington has an idea, and it is for Lieutenant von Belke to approve of it or not. I know enough myself about naval affairs to see that there are great possibilities in the suggestion, but I don't know enough to advise on it." "What is the suggestion?" I asked in a very dry and non-committal voice. Captain Ashington, I noticed, cleared his throat before he began. "The fleet is going out one evening next week," he said; "probably on Thursday." "How do you know?" I demanded. He looked confidentially at Tiel. "Mr Tiel knows the source of my information," he said. "I should like to know it too," said I. "I can vouch for Captain Ashington's information," said Tiel briefly. There is something extraordinarily decisive and satisfying about Tiel when he speaks like that. I knew it must be all right; still, I felt it my duty to make sure. "Have you any objections to telling me?" I asked. Tiel stepped to my side and whispered-- "I told you about his brother." I understood, and did not press my question. Whether to respect the man for this remnant of delicacy, or to despise him for not being a more thorough, honest blackguard, I was not quite sure. "Well," I said, "suppose we know when they are going out, they will take the usual precautions, I presume?" Ashington leaned forward confidentially over the table. "They are going out on a new course," he said in a low voice. I pricked up my ears, but all I said was-- "Why is that?" "On account of the currents. The old passage hasn't been quite satisfactory. They are going to experiment with a new passage." This certainly sounded all right, for I knew how diabolical the tideways can be round these islands. "Do you know the new course at all accurately?" I inquired. Captain Ashington smiled for the first time, and somehow or other the sight of a smile on his face gave me a strongly increased distaste for the man. "I know it exactly," he said. He took out of his pocket a folded chart and laid it on the table. The three of us bent over it, and at a glance I could see that this was business indeed. All the alterations in the mine-fields were shown and the course precisely laid down. "Well," said Tiel, "I think this suggests something, Belke." By this time I was inwardly burning with excitement. "I hope to have the pleasure of being present just about that spot," I said, pointing to the chart. "Or there," suggested Ashington. "Either would do very nicely, so far as I can judge," said Tiel. "How many submarines can you concentrate, and how long will it take you to concentrate them?" I considered the question. "I am afraid there is no use in concentrating more than two or three in such narrow waters," I said. "Squadronal handling of submarines of course is impossible except on the surface. And we clearly can't keep on the surface!" Captain Ashington looked at me in a way I did not at all like.