Valvick sat down.
"Listen! Ay got bot' de hatches full off news. Ay tell you all about it, but first ay tell you de most important. Captain Whistler want all of us up in his cabin after breakfast, and — coroosh! — he t'ink he know who de criminal is."
10 — Dramatis Personae
After the captain had ordered porridge and the table steward had gone, a rather nervous Warren put down his coffee-cup.
"Knows who the criminal is? He's not getting any funny ideas, is he? About us, I mean?"
Chuckling, Valvick made a broad gesture. "Coroosh, no! Not at all. Dat ain't it. Ay dunno yust what it is, but he send Sparks to my cabin to say we all got to come up after mess. Sparks say de captain get a wireless message, but he will not tell me what iss in it until we see old Barnacle."
"I wonder," said Morgan.
"So dat remind, and ay say to Sparks — iss de wireless-operator; all de wireless-operators iss Sparkses, you see— ay say, "Sparks, you wass on duty yesterday afternoon, eh?" And he say, "Yes." And den ay say, "Sparks, do you remember when de old man receive dat first message about de crook, and hass a row wit' you? Wass dere some odder people in de cabin wit' you at de time?" When he says yes, den ay describe dat girl we find cracked on de head last night, and ay say, "Sparks, was she dere?" (All Sparkses is hawful wit' de ladies, so ay know he remember her if she wass.) Halso, if she send or receive a message, he iss going to know her name, eh?"
"Neat!" said Warren. "Swell! Who was she?"
"Ahhhh, dass de trouble. He remember her, but he dunno. Dere was several people, and halso a cousin of Sparks which is travelling as a passenger. She came in, and see dere is people in a waiting-line, so he guess she don't want to wait and she turn round and go out; he say she hass got 'ands full of papers. No matter! We find out when we know who iss missing. Now is de part I want to tell you…"