“Cap’n Pott, Mr. Fox knew your half-brother after they had both left this country.”
“How do you know that?”
“Just by putting two and two together.”
The seaman took the yellow bit of paper from his pocket, and in his excitement crumpled it into a wad. “But Adoniah went to Australia, and Jim says he was in Africa,” he said, testing out the other’s fund of information.
“I know all about that story, but I don’t believe one word of it. Mr. Fox did not make his money in Africa, and he knew your half-brother.”
“What’s all this got to do with that there 259 client Harold spoke of the last night you ate up there?”
“Everything. The man he mentioned was a trader in Sydney. He had married an only daughter of an older trader, and then something happened. The younger man disappeared very suddenly. The old trader searched for years, but in vain. Recently, he died, leaving a large estate. His wife has taken up the search for the lost daughter. It was the name of the old trader’s son-in-law that crumpled up Mr. Fox like an autumn leaf. The young trader’s name was Adoniah Phillips.”
Though he had been anticipating this, the Captain fell back into his chair and stared blankly at the minister. “But why did he act like the devil toward you, Mack? That’s what I want to know.”
“I don’t know. That is the thing that puzzles me.”
“What more do you know?”