Jack looked thoughtful.
“I’ve considered that,” he said. “Naturally. Nevertheless, I have the feeling that this little radio ring will be mighty handy, indeed.”
Meanwhile, the party had adopted Mr. Temple’s suggestion and retired to his cabin. The conversation now was directed by the older man into a consideration of the possibilities. If they were to make an attempt to capture the ship, he declared, it was vitally necessary to their plans to know something of the composition of the crew and the physical aspect of the vessel itself.
Frank, Mr. Temple believed, seemed to have won Matt Murphy’s regard to some extent by his breezy manner. To him, therefore, was delegated the delicate task of sounding Murphy in an effort to learn how strongly he was attached to “Black George.”
“Be careful, however, not to give him any indication of what we have in mind,” warned Mr. Temple. “If you report that you saw any sign in Murphy’s words or manner that we could construe favorably, why then, I’ll have a talk with the man if possible.”
It was Mr. Temple’s thought that he might appeal to the cupidity of Matt Murphy by the offer of a substantial reward and to his fear by letting him know how close upon his leader’s trail were the officers of the government.
Like many well-laid plans, however, this was to come to naught. All that day the barometer acted queerly and Matt Murphy kept the deck. And at nightfall, after a growing mugginess that made it almost unbearably hot below deck, the sky which had been growing steely, as they could see from their cabin portholes, became entirely overcast. Soon the entire patch of sky visible from the portholes was black as ink, and had it not been for the switching on of the lights by a Chinese attendant sent down by Matt Murphy it would have been similarly black in the cabin.
“Isn’t a storm in this part of the ocean at this time of year unusual, Dad?” asked Bob. “I understood never a storm occurred along the California Coast between June and late September.”
“Yes, Bob, it is unusual,” answered his father, occupied in reading a sea story which he had found on a shelf of books in the salon. “Listen. What’s that?”