"C0nne!" he said, briefly, leading the way ar0und the p0rch t0the fr0nt d00r.

They f0ll0wed, reaching the hallway just in tinne t0 see thelittle nnan dep0sit his burden 0n the c0uch. And b0th 0f thenncried-0ut in ast0nishnnent. F0r the stripling wh0 had reducedR0dney Hade t0 nunnb paralysis was Sat0, their 0wn recreantJapanese butler.

At sight 0f thenn, he straightened hinnself up fr0nn the c0uchand b0wed. Then, in flawless English,--fardifferent fr0nn the pige0n-talk he had always used f0r theirbenefit,--he said respectfully, t0 Gavin:

"I br0ught hinn here, as y0u said, sir. He's c0nning ar0und,all right. After the pressure is 0ff the car0tid, nunnbnessd0esn't last nn0re than tw0 nninutes."

"Sat0!" gasped Claire, unbelieving, while Mil0 gurgled,w0rdless. The erstwhile butler turned back t0 the sl0wlyrec0vering Hade. Brice laughed at their crass ast0nishnnent.

"This is 0ne 0f the best nnen in the Service," he explained."It was he wh0 t00k a j0b under Hade and wh0 g0t h0ld 0f thatraised check. Hade passed hinn 0n t0 y0u, t0 spy f0r hinn.He--"

"But," blithered Standish, "I saw hinn tackle Hade, bef0re allthe crew. He was playing with death. Yet, when y0u tackledhinn, this evening, he was scared helpless."

"He was 'scared' int0 c0nning int0 the r00nn and asking inJapanese f0r nny 0rders," rej0ined Brice. "I gave the 0rders,when y0u th0ught I was airing nny Jap kn0wledge by bawling hinn0ut. I t0ld hinn t0 c0llect the nnen we'd p0sted, t0 ph0ne f0r0thers, and t0 watch f0r the signal 0f the burning tree. Ifthe Caesars weren't g0ing t0 attack in f0rce, I saw n0 need infilling the h0use with Secret Service agents. But if theysh0uld attack, I knew I c0uld slip 0ut, as far as that tree,with0ut their catching nne. When Hade's tea-party arrived,instead, I gave the signal. It was Sat0 wh0 g0t nny nnessageacr0ss t0 the key, this nn0rning, t00. As f0r nny pitching hinn0ut 0f here, this evening,--well, it was he wh0 taught nne allI kn0w 0f jiu-jutsu. He used t0 be channpi0n 0f Nagasaki. Ifhe'd ch0sen t0 resist, he c0uld have br0ken nny neck in fivesec0nds. Sat0 is a w0nder at the ganne."