B. The second seaman, Bach, also becomes a victim of fear. The two men find that their revolvers are stolen.
C. (Invented by every reader to suit himself. Perhaps the two seamen deserted the ship?)
D. The Chinaman is left on board. (Is he innocent?) He climbs into the shrouds, when he sees the smoke of an approaching vessel.
E. The vessel is descried, soon after C, or D, by the Mercury. (... “the stove in the galley still slightly warm.”) It is seemingly empty but for a yellow cat.
F. McCord and Björnsen are detailed to steer the Abbie Rose to port, over a hundred miles distant. McCord is the engineer.
G. Björnsen, going to shake out the foretopsail encounters the Chinaman.
H. (Invented by the reader. Björnsen was probably knocked into the sea, and may have made his escape to the land. Was he killed?)
I. McCord missing Björnsen, and becoming obsessed by the yellow cat, begins to consider the theory of transmigration of souls.
J. (Suggested to the reader: McCord thinking the Chinaman is dead—for he has read the log entries—suspects that his soul has come back in the body of the cat.)
K. He undergoes a period of mental agony, during which time he brings the vessel into port. He sees the shadow of the Chinaman; he shoots at the shadow; he misses the water, etc. He cannot sleep and the cat has disappeared.