Captain: Then you think the crime was committed before the sailing of the ship?
Monteith: I can't say; if, as the doctor says, the deceased had been dead for nine hours, this would bring the time of the commission of the crime to nine o'clock last night, at which time the ship sailed.
The captain asked Monteith a few other questions, and then the inquest was adjourned till the next morning.
[CHAPTER IV.]
THE NEW PASSENGERS.
When the inquest had been adjourned, and the excited passengers were assembled in saloon and smoking-rooms giving their ideas on the subject, Ronald Monteith, at the captain's request, remained to talk over things.
"It is a curious case altogether," said Captain Templeton, sitting back in his chair. "I never knew of such a thing to occur aboard one of our steamers before, and your story is a strange one."
"It is, rather," assented the Australian, pulling moodily at his mustache; "but I think it is true. Poor Ventin told me it only too bitterly to leave any doubt in my mind as to his veracity."
The captain took up the stiletto, which still lay on the table, and looked at it thoughtfully.
"Have you ever seen this in Ventin's possession?" he asked.