“Has Captain Martin not put you in possession of the whole case, then?”
“Why, my good Scanlan, the Captain knows nothing, actually nothing, of his difficulties. He has, it is true, a perfect conviction that he is out of his depth; but whether he be in five fathom water or fifty, he doesn't know; and, what 's stranger, he does n't care!”
“After all, if it be over his head, I suppose it's pretty much the same thing,” said Scanlan, with a bitter laugh.
“I beg to offer my dissent to that doctrine,” said Mas-singbred, gently. “Where the water is only just out of a man's depth, the shore is usually not very distant. Now, if we were quite certain such were the case here, we might hope to save him. If, on the contrary, he has gone down out of all sight of land—” He stopped, gazed steadily at Scanlan for a few seconds, and then in a lower tone, not devoid of a touch of anxiety, said, “Eh, do you really know this to be so?”
“I'll tell you all I know, Mr. Massingbred,” said he, as having turned the key in the door, he took his seat at the table. “And I 'll tell you, besides, how I came by the knowledge, and I 'll leave it to your own judgment to say what his chance is worth. When Merl was stopping at Kilkieran, he left there a little pocket-book, with memorandums of all his secret transactions. Mighty nice doings they were,—and profitable, too,—as you 'll perceive when you look over it.”
“You have it, then,” cried Jack, eagerly.
“Here it is,” said he, producing the precious volume, and laying his hand firmly on it. “Here it is now. I got it under a pledge to hand it to himself, which I need n't tell you I never had the slightest intention of performing. It's not every day in the week one has the good luck to get a peep into the enemy's brief, and this is exactly what you 'll find here.”
Massingbred stretched out his hand to take the book, but Scanlan quietly replaced it in his pocket, and, with a dry and very peculiar smile, said,—“Have a little patience, sir. We must go regularly to work here. You shall see this book—you shall examine it—and even retain it—but it must be on conditions.” “Oh, you may confide in me, Scanlan. Even if Mr. Merl were my friend,—which I assure you he is not,—I could not venture to betray you.”
“That's not exactly what I 'm thinking of, Mr. Massingbred. I 'm certain you 'd say nothing to Merl of what you saw here. My mind is easy enough upon that score.”
“Well, then, in what direction do your suspicions point?”