“What has that to do with it, you fool?” roared Schwartzbrod. “That old scoundrel Simmons can easily change his name. He’s sold me out, the sanctimonious hound. Very likely he and Frowningshield are both in the plot against me. Simmons is a thief, for all his canting objections when we were striking a bargain. I don’t believe Frowningshield’s any better, and he’s got more brains. They’ll smelt the ore in France, after carrying it to some suitable spot along the coast in sailing boats. But it’ll take two or three days to unload, and I’ll give old Simmons a fright before that is done. See if there’s a steamer from Southampton to St. Malo to-night. If not I must go to Brest by way of Paris. I can’t trust this job to any one else.” As it happened there was a boat that evening for St. Malo, and so the two persons who had indulged in a long conversation regarding the _Rajah_ that afternoon were each in pursuit of her, moving westward; Schwartzbrod in his berth on board the St. Malo boat, Stranleigh in his berth on the Plymouth express, while between the two the stanch old _Rajah_ was threshing her way across the Channel between Brest and Plymouth, heading for the latter seaport. Next day Stranleigh greeted Mackeller with something almost approaching enthusiasm. Neither of them entertained the least suspicion that the stop at Brest might put Conrad on the trail; but even if they had, they must have known that the arrival of the _Rajah_ at Plymouth would have entailed similar consequences if Schwartzbrod’s minions were looking sharply after his interests. The _Rajah’s_ stay at Plymouth was very short, merely giving time for the crew of the yacht to take its station aboard the _Rajah_, under command of Captain Wilkie, while the crew that had brought the _Rajah_ into port was placed in the care of Captain Simmons, whose big steamer, the _Wychwood_, was not yet ready to sail. The _Rajah_ then rounded the southwest corner of England, and found a berth in the little haven of Portreath, within easy distance of the smelting furnace. The _Rajah_ was unloaded with the utmost speed, and the ore conveyed as quickly as possible to the inclosure which surrounded the smelting furnace. Stranleigh thought it just as well to get his raw material under cover with the least possible delay, for, although Portreath was not a tourist center, one could never be quite certain that some scientific chap might not happen along, who, picking up a specimen, would know that it contained gold and not copper. Besides this, the engineer of the _Rajah_ reported certain defects in engines and boilers that needed to be seen to and amended before it was safe to face so long a voyage again; therefore, that no time should be lost, the _Rajah_ was hurried back to Plymouth to undergo the necessary repairs.