"No, no, old man," he said. "You don't understand. Not Lord Sturton — Lord Derreval. Lord Gerald Derreval. If you don't believe me, go down to Kyle's cabin — it isn't Mi from here — and look behind the wardrobe trunk just under the porthole. The steel box is there; I left the box there so the crook would maybe think the emerald was still In it…
Valvick whirled on Morgan.
"Maybe," he said, "maybe it been dere all de time! Coroosh! You t'ink dere is two emeralds, and one of dem a fake, and somebody hass returned de fake to dat English duke, eh?"
"Impossible, Skipper," returned Morgan, who was feeling queerly light-headed. "Don't you think Sturton would know a real emerald from a fake? Unless, somehow, the Will emerald was returned to him… I don't know! The thing's driving me insane. Go on, Curt. Go on from the consummation of your crafty scheme to entice Woodcock In the brig. What then?"
"Well, 1 got in a neat upper-cut, you see… "
"Yes, yes, we know that. But afterwards?"
"I tore the sheet up, bound and gagged him securely, and tied him to the berth so he couldn't move; then I put a blanket over him, so when the sailor came back he'd only look into the cell and think I was there… Neat, eh?"
"I have no doubt," agreed Morgan, "that at the present moment Mr. Woodcock thinks very highly of your forethought. If the idea had ever previously occurred to him to tip over the beams concerning your Uncle Warpus. I should think it would recommend itself strongly to him now. You're a wonder, you are. Carry on."
"So I sneaked away and made straight for Kyle's cabin to get the goods on him. I wasn't afraid of running into Kyle because I looked through a porthole and saw him in the bar; besides, I knew he was due at the concert. And— there you are. The proof! Also, I've got his papers. All I was afraid of was what Captain Whistler had said about maybe catching Kyle, but everything was fine. Now all we've got to do is examine his papers, and we'll find evidence that he's really the crook who's impersonating Dr. Kyle____"
"Yess, dere is de papers, too," rumbled Captain Valvick. "It is a hawful offence, ay tell you. Worst offence on de high seas to steal a man's papers. What we going to do now?"