"Oh, yes, you do."
"I'd like to know why. I never saw or heard of this vessel before."
"Come now, that's a good one. Didn't you sign papers with Lowell yesterday morning?"
This question astonished me in more ways than one. First, because I had not signed papers with any one, and second, because Lowell was the name of one of the men I had overheard talking in the lumber shed in the morning. Was it possible I had been kidnapped upon the same ship the two had been discussing?
"I don't know what you mean," I replied. "I don't know Lowell, and never signed any papers."
"Nonsense. Lowell!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
And the same man I had seen upon the dock in Brooklyn came forward.
"Isn't this Luke Foster that signed with you yesterday?"
"Aye, captain."