30 ' FOR THE FLAG

A few steps brought the strangers into the presence of
Thomas Roch.

The afflicted man had not seen them approach, and
when they were within a short distinct of him he was
evidently not aware of their presence.

In the meantime Captain Spade, without arousing
any suspicion, was carcfully examining the grounds
and the position occupied by Pavilion 17 at the
lowcr end of the park of MHealthful House. As
he followed the sloping paths he easily distinguished
the top of a mast which rose above the outside wall.
A momentary glance sufficed to enable him to recog-
nize it as belonging to the £642, and to verify that
the wall on this side ran along the right bank of the
river.

Motionless and mute, Count d’Artigas watched the
French ‘inventor. This man was vigorous still; eighteen
months’ incarceration had done no injury to his health.
But his strange attitudes, his incoherent gestures, his
haggard eyes, his indifference to everything happening
about him, clearly denoted a complete state of abstraction
and derangement of mind.

Thomas Roch had just sat down on a seat,:and with
the end of a cane which he held in his hand he was draw-
ing the outline of a fortification on the path. Then,
falling on his knees, he made little mounds of sand,
evidently to represent bastions. That done, he broke off
some leaves from a bush and planted them on the top of
the mounds Jike so many tiny flags. He did all this quite