The place is Malta. The year is 1913. A balloonist has a crash and, though not hurt, is sent to the Naval Hospital as a precaution. It is there he suddenly dies. And he is not the only one to mysteriously die in that facility. That gets the Foreign Office worried and they ask Sandor Seymour to investigate. He finds tensions are high as war looms in Europe and that Mediterranian island would like independence.