“I have the gentleman located, Ned. I am reasonably certain that I have. Of course it’s none of my business, but I have been curious ever since the Captain said that. My man has red whiskers, regular combustible whiskers,” added the freckle-faced boy with a grin.
“There are several men on board this boat who wear red upholstery on their chins,” averred Rector.
35“I know that, but this one is the fellow, all right,” declared Tad in a confident tone.
“You know something!” exclaimed Ned.
“I do. Don’t speak so loudly. Someone might hear. I heard someone passing along the deck just below us a moment ago.”
“No one down there could distinguish what we were saying,” answered Ned, as the two drew back farther between the steel bases of the two funnels.
“Well?” urged Ned.
“The man referred to by Captain Petersen is Sandy Ketcham, the tall, lank fellow, with the squinty eyes and the stoop shoulders. He has a trick of peering up from under his eyelids when he looks at you.”
“Oh! I know the one you mean, and I don’t like his looks. How did you know?”
“Since the Captain made that remark about ‘Red Whiskers’ I have been taking an interest in every man on the boat who wore red whiskers,” said Tad. “I tried to decide, in my own mind, which of them was the right one.”