<h3> THE PERCUSSION CAP </h3>
<p> </p>
<p>There was a long, tense silence. The
cowled figures had risen ominously;
Miss Thorne paled behind her mask,
and her fingers gripped her palms fiercely, still
she sat motionless. Prince d'Abruzzi broke the
silence. He seemed perfectly calm and self-possessed.</p>
<p>"How did you get in?" he demanded.</p>
<p>"Throttled your guard at the front door,
took him down cellar and locked him in the coal-bin,"
replied Mr. Grimm tersely. "I am waiting
for you to burn it."</p>
<p>"And how did you escape from—from the
other place?"</p>
<p>Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders.</p>
<p>"The lamp is in front of you," he said.</p>
<p>"And find your way here?" the prince pursued.</p>
<p>Again Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders.
For an instant longer the prince gazed straight
into his inscrutable face, then turned accusing
eyes on the masked figures about him.</p>
<p>"Is there a traitor?" he demanded suddenly.
His gaze settled on Miss Thorne and lingered
there.</p>
<p>"I can relieve your mind on that point—there
is not," Mr. Grimm assured him. "Just a final
word, your Highness, if you will permit me. I
have heard everything that has been said here
for the last fifteen minutes. The details of your
percussion cap are interesting. I shall lay them
before my government and my government may
take it upon itself to lay them before the British
government. You yourself said a few minutes
ago that this compact was not possible before
this cap was invented and perfected. It isn't
possible the minute my government is warned
against its use. That will be my first duty."</p>
<p>"You are giving some very excellent reasons,
Mr. Grimm," was the deliberate reply, "why
you should not be permitted to leave this room
alive."</p>
<p>"Further," Mr. Grimm resumed in the same
tone, "I have been ordered to prevent the signing
of that compact, at least in this country. It
seems that I am barely in time. If it is signed—and
it will be useless now on your own statement
unless you murder me—every man who
signs it will have to reckon with the highest
power of this country. Will you destroy it?
I don't want to know what countries already
stand committed by the signatures there."</p>
<p>"I will not," was the steady response. And
then, after a little: "Mr. Grimm, the inventor
of this little cap, insignificant as it seems, will
receive millions for it. Your silence would be
worth—just how much?"</p>
<p>Mr. Grimm's face turned red, then white
again.</p>
<p>"Which would you prefer? An independence
by virtue of a great fortune, or—or the other
thing?"</p>
<p>Suddenly Miss Thorne tore the mask from
her face and came forward. Her cheeks were
scarlet, and anger flamed in the blue-gray eyes.</p>
<p>"Mr. Grimm has no price—I happen to know
that," she declared hotly. "Neither money nor
a consideration for his own personal safety will
make him turn traitor." She stared coldly into
the prince's eyes. "And we are not assassins
here," she added.</p>
<p>"Miss Thorne has stated the matter fairly, I
believe, your Highness," and Mr. Grimm permitted
his eyes to linger a moment on the flushed
face of this woman who, in a way, was defending
him. "But there is only one thing to do, Miss
Thorne." He was talking to her now. "There
is no middle course. It is a problem that has
only one possible answer—the destruction of
that document, and the departure of you, and
you, your Highness, for Italy under my personal
care all the way. I imagined this matter
had ended that day on the steamer; it <i>will</i> end
here, now, to-night."</p>
<p>The prince glanced again at his watch, then
thoughtfully weighed the percussion cap in his
hand, after which, with a curious laugh, he
walked over to the squat iron globe in an opposite
corner of the room. He bent over it half a
minute, then straightened up.</p>
<p>"That cap, Mr. Grimm, has one disadvantage,"
he remarked casually. "When it is attached
to a mine or torpedo it can not be
disconnected without firing it. It is attached."
He turned to the others. "It is needless to discuss
the matter further just now. If you will
follow me? We will leave Mr. Grimm here."</p>
<p>With a strange little cry, neither anger nor
anguish, yet oddly partaking of the quality of
each, Isabel went quickly to the prince.</p>
<p>"How dare you do such a thing?" she demanded
fiercely. "It is murder."</p>
<p>"This is not a time, Miss Thorne, for your
interference," replied the prince coldly. "It
has all passed beyond the point where the feelings
of any one person, even the feelings of the
woman who has engineered the compact, can be
considered. A single life can not be permitted
to stand in the way of the consummation of this
world project. Mr. Grimm alive means the compact
would be useless, if not impossible; Mr.
Grimm dead means the fruition of all our plans
and hopes. You have done your duty and you
have done it well; but now your authority ends,
and I, the special envoy of—"</p>
<p>"Just a moment, please," Mr. Grimm interrupted
courteously. "As I understand it, your
Highness, the mine there in the corner is
charged?"</p>
<p>"Yes. It just happened to be here for purposes
of experiment."</p>
<p>"The cap is attached?"</p>
<p>"Quite right." The prince laughed.</p>
<p>"And at three o'clock, by your watch, the
mine will be fired by a wireless operator fifteen
miles from here?"</p>
<p>"Something like that; yes, very much like
that," assented the prince.</p>
<p>"Thank you. I merely wanted to understand
it." Mr. Grimm pulled a chair up against the
door and sat down, crossing his legs. On his
knees rested the barrel of a revolver, glittering,
fascinating, in the semi-darkness. "Now, gentlemen,"
and he glanced at his watch, "it's
twenty-one minutes of three o'clock. At three
that mine will explode. We will all be in the
room when it happens, unless his Highness sees
fit to destroy the compact."</p>
<p>Eyes sought eyes, and the prince removed his
mask with a sudden gesture. His face was
bloodless.</p>
<p>"If any man," and Mr. Grimm gave Miss
Thorne a quick glance, "I should say, <i>any person</i>,
attempts to leave this room I <i>know</i> he will
die; and there's a bare chance that the percussion
cap will fail to work. I can account for
six of you, if there is a rush."</p>
<p>"But, man, if that mine explodes we shall all
be killed—blown to pieces!" burst from one of
the cowled figures.</p>
<p>"If the percussion cap works," supplemented
Mr. Grimm.</p>
<p>Mingled emotions struggled in the flushed
face of Isabel as she studied Mr. Grimm's impassive
countenance.</p>
<p>"I have never disappointed you yet, Miss
Thorne," he remarked as if it were an explanation.
"I shall not now."</p>
<p>She turned to the prince.</p>
<p>"Your Highness, I think it needless to argue
further," she said. "We have no choice in the
matter; there is only one course—destroy the
compact."</p>
<p>"No!" was the curt answer.</p>
<p>"I believe I know Mr. Grimm better than you
do," she argued. "You think he will weaken;
I know he will not. I am not arguing for him,
nor for myself; I am arguing against the
frightful loss that will come here in this room
if the compact is not destroyed."</p>
<SPAN name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></SPAN>
<p class="figure">
<SPAN href="img4.jpg">
<ANTIMG width-obs="60%" src="images/img4.jpg" alt="'You Think He Will Weaken; I Know He Will Not.'"/></SPAN><br/>
<b>"'You Think He Will Weaken; I Know He Will Not.'"</b></p>
<p>"It's absurd to let one man stand in the way,"
declared the prince angrily.</p>
<p>"It might not be an impertinent question,
your Highness," commented Mr. Grimm, "for
me to ask how you are going to <i>prevent</i> one
man standing in the way?"</p>
<p>A quick change came over Miss Thorne's
face. The eyes hardened, the lips were set, and
lines Mr. Grimm had never seen appeared about
the mouth. Here, in a flash, the cloak of dissimulation
was cast aside, and the woman stood
forth, this keen, brilliant, determined woman
who did things.</p>
<p>"The compact will be destroyed," she said.</p>
<p>"No," declared the prince.</p>
<p>"It <i>must</i> be destroyed."</p>
<p>"<i>Must? Must?</i> Do you say <i>must to me?</i>"</p>
<p>"Yes, <i>must</i>," she repeated steadily.</p>
<p>"And by what authority, please, do—"</p>
<p>"By that authority!" She drew a tiny, filigreed
gold box from her bosom and cast it upon
the table; the prince stared at it. "In the name
of your sovereign—<i>must</i>!" she said again.</p>
<p>The prince turned away and began pacing,
back and forth across the room with the parchment
crumpled in his hand. For a minute or
more Isabel stood watching him.</p>
<p>"Thirteen minutes!" Mr. Grimm announced
coldly.</p>
<p>And now broke out an excited chatter, a babel
of French, English, Italian, Spanish; those
masked and cowled ones who had held silence
for so long all began talking at once. One
of them snatched at the crumpled compact
in the prince's hand, while all crowded around
him arguing. Mr. Grimm sat perfectly still
with the revolver barrel resting on his knees.</p>
<p>"Eleven minutes!" he announced again.</p>
<p>Suddenly the prince turned violently on Miss
Thorne with rage-distorted face.</p>
<p>"Do you know what it means to you if I do
as you say?" he demanded savagely. "It means
you will be branded as traitor, that your name,
your property—"</p>
<p>"If you will pardon me, your Highness," she
interrupted, "the power that I have used was
given to me to use; I have used it. It is a matter
to be settled between me and my government,
and as far as it affects my person is of
no consequence now. You will destroy the compact."</p>
<p>"Nine minutes!" said Mr. Grimm monotonously.</p>
<p>Again the babel broke out.</p>
<p>"Do we understand that you want to see the
compact?" one of the cowled men asked suddenly
of Mr. Grimm as he turned.</p>
<p>"No, I don't want to see it. I'd prefer not
to see it."</p>
<p>With hatred blazing in his eyes the prince
made his way toward the lamp, holding a parchment
toward the blaze.</p>
<p>"There's nothing else to be done," he exclaimed
savagely.</p>
<p>"Just a moment, please," Mr. Grimm interposed
quickly. "Miss Thorne, is that the compact?"</p>
<p>She glanced at it, nodded her head, and then
the flame caught the fringed edge of paper. It
crackled, flashed, flamed, and at last, a thing of
ashes, was scattered on the floor. Mr. Grimm
rose.</p>
<p>"That is all, gentlemen," he announced courteously.
"You are free to go. You, your
Highness, and Miss Thorne, will accompany
me."</p>
<p>He held open the door and there was almost a
scramble to get out. The prince and Miss
Thorne waited until the last.</p>
<p>"And, Miss Thorne, if you will give us a lift
in your car?" Mr. Grimm suggested. "It is
now four minutes of three."</p>
<p>The automobile came in answer to a signal
and the three in silence entered it. The car
trembled and had just begun to move when Mr.
Grimm remembered something, and leaped out.</p>
<p>"Wait for me!" he called. "There's a man
locked in the coal-bin!"</p>
<p>He disappeared into the house, and Miss
Thorne, with a gasp of horror sank back in her
seat with face like chalk. The prince glanced
uneasily at his watch, then spoke curtly to the
chauffeur.</p>
<p>"Run the car up out of danger; there'll be an
explosion there in a moment."</p>
<p>They had gone perhaps a hundred feet when
the building they had just left seemed to be
lifted bodily from the ground by a great spurt
of flame which tore through its center, then collapsed
like a thing of cards. The prince, unmoved,
glanced around at Miss Thorne; she lay
in a dead faint beside him.</p>
<p>"Go ahead," he commanded. "Baltimore."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<SPAN name="CH24"><!-- CHAPTER 24 --></SPAN>
<h3> XXIV </h3>
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