“Nearly there,” his friend replied. He shut off the power as he spoke, and the car, rounding a curve by its own momentum, came to a standstill before a massive pair of iron gates, flanked by a lodge. Leaping out, the millionaire pulled the great bell-handle which hung down from the pillar. Ere the clanging of the bell had ceased, the door of the lodge opened, and the keeper stepped out, carrying a lantern. “What do you want?” he asked suspiciously, throwing the light upon the two men and the motionless car. “Open the gates,” Haverly demanded. “I must see your master at once. I’m Haverly.” “You might be, but then again you mightn’t,” was the dubious reply. “Anyway, I’ve got strict orders to keep a sharp look-out for anybody suspicious-looking.” “You darned fool!” cried the Yankee, “do you size me up as a suspicious party?” “Orders is orders,” retorted the man sullenly, without budging an inch. “Say, Frank,” Haverly said, “give us a leg up, will you? This fool means to keep us out here all night.” With the aid of his friend, Silas swarmed over the barrier, and dropped lightly down on the other side. Quickly he flung open the gates, and the next moment the car was spinning up the drive, leaving the lodge-keeper staring blankly after it. “It’s agin orders,” he muttered at length, and, shaking his head sagely, he closed the gates, and withdrew to his room. Up the broad, gravelled track Oswyn drove the automobile, at a speed that made the shrubs which bordered the drive dance past in one dark line. Soon the lights of the Manor gleamed before them, and from afar the sound of the sea came to their ears. Bringing the car to a standstill before the porch, the doctor sprang out, followed by his friend. “I guess we’re in time,” Haverly said. “You’ll see this through, Frank?” “Rather!” replied the young doctor enthusiastically. “We’d better take a look round before we make an entrance.” Leaving the car where it stood, the two men crept round to the rear of the building. The light, streaming through the open French windows of the dining-room, attracted their attention, and Oswyn with difficulty stifled an exclamation of rage as, crossing the lawn, they peered in. Within sat Seymour, the inventor, and Mervyn, before a table which still held the remnants of a meal; but each was bound securely to his chair and gagged. In one corner of the room stood Haverly’s two companions of the express, and with them two others, one in the dress of a footman. They were conversing in low tones, and at intervals a gleam of metal beneath the electric light showed that all were armed. “Well, gentlemen,” one of them said at length, addressing the helpless trio, “I think we may venture to leave you. You will be perfectly safe for the night, but I am afraid your proposed Polar expedition will have to be indefinitely postponed.”