Norton shrugged his shoulders.  But he could not have acquiesced better than by his very manner.

“Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Whitney know best what they are doing,” he remarked, at length.  “Why don’t you and Kennedy try to see Senora de Moche?  I’m a scientist, you know.  I dislike talking about speculations.  I’d prefer only to express opinions about things that are certainties.”

Perhaps Norton wished to convey the impression that the subjects I had broached were worth looking into.  At least it was the impression I derived.

“Still,” he continued slowly, “I think I am justified in saying this much:  I myself have been interested in watching both Alfonso de Moche and Lockwood when it comes to the case of the Senorita.  All’s fair, they say, in love and war.  If I am any judge, there are both in this case, somewhere.  I think you had better see the Senora and judge for yourself.  She’s a clever woman, I know.  But I’m sure that Kennedy could make her out, even if the rest of us can’t.”

I thanked Norton for the hint that he had given, and after chatting a few moments more left him alone in his office.

In my room again, I went back to finish my writing.  Nothing further occurred, however, to excite my suspicions, and at last I managed to finish it.

I was correcting what I had written when the door opened from the laboratory and Craig entered.  He had thrown off his old, acid-stained laboratory smock and was now dressed to venture forth.

“Have you found out anything about the poison?” I asked.

“Nothing definite yet,” he replied.  “That will take some time now.  It’s a strange poison—­an alkaloid, I’m sure, but not one that one ordinarily encounters.  Still, I’ve made a good beginning.  It won’t take long to determine it now.”

Craig listened with deep interest, though without comment, when I related what had happened, both Norton’s conversation and about the strange visitor whom we had had peering into our windows.

“Some one seems to be very much interested in what we are doing, Walter,” he concluded simply.  “I think we’d better do a little more outside work now, while we have a chance.  If you are ready, so am I. I want to see what sort of treasure hunter this Stuart Whitney is.  I’d like to know whether he is in on this secret of the Gold of the Gods, too.”

V

THE WALL STREET PROMOTER

Lockwood, as we now knew, had become allied in some way with a group of Wall Street capitalists, headed by Stuart Whitney.

Already I had heard something of Whitney.  In the Street he was well known as an intensely practical man, though far above the average exploiter both in cleverness and education.