"Send a man for it, Mr. Harris. Is it in the sheath, you Petrak?"
"Can't say, sir," said Petrak, looking about nervously, and feeling at his belt.
"Can't say! Can't say! You can't say because that's yer knife right there under yer eyes! That's yer knife and you killed this man!"
"Tell the truth, my good man," interjected Meeker, holding up his hands.
"Tell the truth and—"
"Belay!" yelled Riggs. "You speak when ye're spoken to, Mr. Meeker, if you please!"
"No offence intended—purely involuntary on my part. I beg your pardon, my dear sir."
"That's your knife and you killed him," repeated Riggs to Petrak.
"Never killed him, sir, and nobody else, strike me blind if I did, and that's the truth, sir," said Petrak doggedly, but in spite of his brave showing there was a whimper in his voice and his knees trembled. "Did you have an accomplice?" asked Meeker, and I thought I saw some sort of a signal pass between them.
Buckrow arrived from the forecastle with a leather sheath and a knife in it. He handed it to Harris.
"There's my knife!" yelled Petrak. "That's it, just as I said, and Bucky found it in my bunk where I said it was, strike me blind!"