“Yes.”
“I believe I last saw him alive just after——”
She spun round, as though jerked on wires. “Alive! Who suggests that he isn't alive?”
“No one. I'm the first. But if he isn't found by to-morrow, the suggestion will be on the lips of all the world.”
“I doubt it.”
“You do?” Hindwood smiled. “Men of the Prince's eminence are not allowed to vanish without a stir. I'm only hoping that you and I are not involved in it. We were the only people with whom he associated on the voyage. We're likely to be detained and certain to be questioned. For all we know the air's full of Marconi messages about us at this moment.”
Her face had gone white. “About us? What had we to do with it?”
“Nothing. But when a tragedy of this sort occurs, we're all liable to be suspected.”
She gazed at him intently. “Then you think there was a tragedy?”
“I feel sure of it. It's my belief that he either fell or was pushed overboard. Somewhere out there in the darkness he's bobbing up and down. It's almost as though I could see him. I couldn't feel more sure if——”