Hardly knowing why he did it, Ned stepped beneath an overhanging part of the deck, and so was partially hidden. The man who so resembled Professor Snodgrass—the man who had acted so violently in the restaurant—walked toward the place where the derelict had crashed into the Sherman and stood looking at the damaged place. Ned, from his vantage place, could observe and hear.
“So this is the place, is it!” murmured le cochon, or the pepper-pot, as Ned sometimes thought of him. “Well, well! I am sorry for him—for all of them. I shall have to redouble my efforts now!”
Ned started. What did the words mean? What was the mystery connected with this strange man who seemed to be under guard at times, and free to rove about at others? What association had he with Professor Snodgrass, and why was he so vindictive toward that little scientist? And, now that the professor was gone, why had this man come to gloat over the place of his disappearance?
All these thoughts rushed through Ned’s mind, which was in a tumult. And then, as the little man spoke, another idea obtruded itself.
What did he mean when he said:
“I shall have to redouble my efforts now!”
To Ned, obsessed as he was with a feeling of enmity against this man, the words had but one meaning.
“He means to go on with his deadly work!” mused the lad. “He was responsible for the damage to the ship in the first place—he caused her to be disabled and held up in the fog. If it wasn’t for that we’d be on our way now, and the derelict wouldn’t have crashed into us.
“This man is responsible for that, though he may not have known about the derelict. He is responsible for the death of Bob, Jerry and Professor Snodgrass. And now he talks of redoubling his efforts! I know what that means! He’s a German spy and he’s going to try to sink the whole shipload of us. He must have gotten away from his guards. I’m going to tell the captain!”