One went away because he saw me, the other one because he saw
his rival apparently granted the interview refused to him. My true lover
must have seen that man sneaking up to my room.'
"John, every fibre of my being danced for joy. I didn't hear the rest,
and she read several pages. I had heard enough.
"I went right out on the deck, begged pardon to begin with, introduced
myself, confessed to eavesdropping, told who I was, where I had been and
asked for that letter.
"I got it and Madelene's picture; the one you have seen on my clock.
"I finished my task at Valparaiso while the vessel lay there, reported
by mail, and came home on the same ship.
"I took that letter and photograph to Andy Bridges's house and wrote
across the envelope 'Madelene Bridges, I demand your immediate and
unconditional surrender, signed, Steadman H. Hopkins.'
"And I got it in five minutes. Chum, that is the only case on record
where something worth having was ever surrendered to an officer of the
Peruvian government.
"In six months I was back on an engine in a new country, with my silent,
loved and loving wife, in a new home.
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