"_Cher ami_," it ran, "much as I value the honour of a naval escort, its presence is embarrassing at the moment. I saw your destroyer this morning through my glasses, and guessed the rest. You are ingenious. Now I understand why you allowed me to escape.
"My respectful salutations to you, oh, most admirable of policemen!"
The court-martial held on Lieutenant-Commander George Septimus Marchcourt, on a charge of "neglect of duty, in that he failed to carry out the instructions of his superior officer," resulted in an honourable acquittal for that cheerful young officer. It was an acquittal which had a far-reaching effect, though at the time it did not promise well.
T. B. was a witness at the trial, which was a purely formal one, in spite of the attention it excited.
He remained at Gibraltar, pending further developments. For the affair of the Nine Men had got beyond Scotland Yard--they were an international problem.
T. B. was walking over from La Linea, across the strip of neutral ground which separated Gibraltar from Spain, with Van Ingen, when he confessed that he despaired of ever bringing the Nine to justice.
"The nations cannot stand the racket much longer," he said; "these Nine Men are costing civilisation a million a week! Think of it! A million pounds a week! We must either capture them soon or effect a compromise. I am afraid they will make peace on their own terms."
"But they must be caught soon," urged the other.
"Why?" demanded T. B. irritably. "How can we hope to capture one of the fastest war vessels afloat when the men who control her have all the seas to run in?"
They had reached the water-port, and T. B. stopped before his hotel.
"Come in," he said suddenly. The two men passed through the paved vestibule and mounted the stair to T. B.'s room. "I'm going to look again at our clue," he said grimly, and extracted from his portfolio the drawing of the little cross with the circular ends.
T. B. himself does not know to this day why he was moved to produce this disappointing little diagram at that moment. It may have been that, as a forlorn hope, he relied upon the application of a fresh young mind to the problem which was so stale in his, for Van Ingen had never seen the diagram.