For a few moments there was silence. Lucy and Archie sat still, as they

were too much surprised by Don Pedro's recognition of Captain Hervey as

the Swedish sailor Vasa to move or speak. But the Professor did not seem

to be greatly astonished, and the sole sound which broke the stillness

was his sardonic chuckle. Perhaps the little man had progressed beyond

the point of being surprised at anything, or, like, Moliere's hero, was

only surprised at finding virtue in unexpected places.

As for the Peruvian and the skipper, they were both on their feet,

eyeing one another like two fighting dogs. Hervey was the first to find

his very useful tongue.

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"I guess you've got the bulge on me," said he, trying to outstare

the Peruvian, for which nationality, from long voyaging on the South

American coast, he entertained the most profound contempt.

But in De Gayangos he found a foeman worthy of his steel.

"I think not," said Don Pedro quietly, and facing the pseudo-American

bravely. "I never forget faces, and yours is a noticeable one. When you

first spoke I fancied that I remembered your voice. All that business

with the chair was to get close to you, so that I could see the scar

on your right temple. It is still there, I notice. Also, I dropped my

cigarette case and forced you to pick it up, so that, when you stretched

your arm, I might see what mark was on your left wrist. It is a serpent

encircling the sun, which Lola Farjados induced you to have tattooed

when you were in Lima thirty years ago. Your eyes are blue and full of

light, and as you were twenty when I knew you, the lapse of years has

made you fifty--your present age."

"Shucks!" said Hervey coolly, and sat down to smoke.

Don Pedro turned to Archie and Braddock.

"Mr. Hope! Professor!" he remarked, "if you remember the description I

gave of Gustav Vasa, I appeal to you to see if it does not exactly fit

this man?"

"It does," said Archie unhesitatingly, "although I cannot see the

tattooed left wrist to which you refer."

Hervey, still smoking, made no offer to show the symbol, but Braddock

unexpectedly came to the assistance of Don Pedro.

"The man is Vasa right enough," he remarked abruptly. "Whether he is

Swedish or American I cannot say. But he is the same man I met when I

was in Lima thirty years ago, after the war."

Hervey slowly turned his blue eyes on the scientist with a twinkle in

their depths.

"So you recognized me?" he observed, with his Yankee drawl.

"I recognized you at the moment I hired you to take The Diver to Malta

to bring back that mummy," retorted Braddock, "but it didn't suit my

book to let on. Didn't you recognize me?"




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