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232 crept like a pair of conspirators into the passage protected by the Yale lock.

Entering the operator's room they found a youth seated on a stool before a telegraphic instrument, whose wires went through the partition into the next chamber.

"Are you still in touch with London?"

"Oh, yes, sir," answered the operator.

"Now, Marlow, pray that we don't get out of range until my message reaches Mackeller."

"Shall I go on deck and ask the captain to stop the steamer?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" cried Stranleigh, in tones so eerie that somehow Marlow gathered that they were in a trap of some kind, and that nothing of this was to be breathed in the outer air. Stranleigh's face was transformed by a look of intensity such as the other had not considered so easy-going a countenance capable of.

"Take this message, Mackeller. The use of my name is quite unauthorised. Get into communication as soon as possible with the head of my company solicitors. See him, if possible, before the bank opens, but whether you see him or not be at the chief office of Selwyn's Bank as soon as the doors are unlocked, and tell Alexander Corbett, the manager, that he is to hang on to every penny of money paid in until you have time to get a legal injunction compelling him to do this. He is a gruff man, but rigidly honest, and you can