"Those old papers," she murmured to herself. "I should have turned them over to Mr. Mason, or put them in the ship's safe. I don't see why I make myself keep them, unless it is that I want to prove to myself that I have some backbone."
Presently she heard Bess breathing heavily, showing her chum was in the land of slumber, and then gradually she dozed off.
Nan had been asleep about an hour when she awoke with a start.
She had heard a noise, of that she felt certain—a noise out of the ordinary and not connected with the running of the ship.
What was it? Was somebody trying the door?
She turned over and, feeling for the push button, turned on the electric light. This move awakened Bess.
"What's the matter, are you sick?" asked the latter.
"No. I—I heard something—it woke me up," Nan replied and got to her feet.
"Maybe those men——"