Let's get through with it."
The two men walked down the deck together. They found the Captain alone in
his room, with a chart spread out in front of him and a pair of compasses
in his hand. He turned round and greeted them.
"Well?"
"No luck, sir," Quest announced. "Your steward has given us every
assistance possible and we have searched the ship thoroughly. Unless he
has found a hiding place unknown to your steward, and not apparent to us,
the man is not on board."
The Captain frowned slightly.
"You are not suggesting that that is possible, I suppose?"
Quest did not at once reply. He was thinking of Laura's obstinacy.
"Personally," he admitted, "I should not have believed it possible. The
young lady of our party, however, who declares that she saw Craig board
the steamer, is quite immovable."
The Captain rose to his feet. He was a man of medium height, strongly
built, with short brown beard and keen blue eyes.
"This matter must be cleared up entirely," he declared brusquely. "If you
will excuse me for a moment, I will talk to the young lady myself."
He walked firmly down the deck to where the two girls were seated, and
paused in front of Laura.
"So you're the young lady," he remarked, touching his cap, "who thinks
that I come to sea with criminals stowed away on my ship?"
"I don't know what your habits are, Captain," Laura replied, "but this
particular criminal boarded your ship all right in Southampton Harbour."
"Anything wrong with your eyesight?" the Captain enquired blandly.
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