With the night the wind rose again but veered to the south. The
_Cigno's_ lights were clearly visible at about three miles' distance.
Her white masthead light watched the Aphrodite without blinking, while
her red and green eyes suggested to Irene's fancy some fabled monster
of the deep waiting to pounce on the yacht if she deviated an inch from
her seaward course.
The girl snatched a few minutes' talk with Royson. Von Kerber, it
seemed, had persuaded her grandfather that Alfieri was the paid agent
of rival archeologists who had got wind of the Sabaean hoard, and were
able to secure the help of the Italian Government. She was convinced
that the ill treatment meted out to them at Massowah had only confirmed
the old gentleman's determination to best his opponents at all costs.
The burking of his cablegrams, made known by the Baron, was the last
straw in an aggravated load. The yacht was going to Aden to enable him
to lodge a complaint with the proper authorities, but she would leave
almost at once for French--Somaliland, where a _kafila_ would be
collected and a dash made across the Italian frontier.
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