As I have said, the ship was rolling heavily, and for this reason I clutched at the rail running along the side of the saloon, while with my left I made a feint of reaching the back of the seat at the table. Then, abandoning the rail, I staggered forward, just as the ship was finishing her downward roll. The natural consequence was that I lost my footing as she came up again, and found myself lying in a heap upon the floor of the saloon, just before Castellan's cabin. While in this position, it was quite easy to push the note underneath the door without attracting attention. This accomplished, I staggered to my feet and to my position at the table, flattering myself that the whole thing had been so natural that the suspicions of our captors could not possibly have been aroused. Our meal at an end, I followed the Commander-in-Chief to the deck above.
"Well," I said, when we reached the taffrail, "have you anything to tell me?"
"Nothing," he answered lugubriously. "I lay awake all night puzzling my brains, but without success. If only we could communicate with Castellan, I feel sure he would be able to work out some scheme."
"It is already done," I replied. "I managed to get a note to him this morning."
"You did," he said, with a look of incredulity upon his face. "Then how on earth did you manage it?"
"By giving myself a bump which I shall remember for some hours to come," I replied. "You observed the fall I had in the saloon, when trying to reach the breakfast-table?"
"Yes, I noticed it," he answered; "but what had that to do with it?"
"Everything in the world," I said. "Perhaps it did not strike you that my fall took place outside Castellan's cabin door. That was when I got the note to him. If you did not see it, it is more than probable that the others did not. In that case, we need have no fears in that direction."
"There is the making of a strategist in you," he said, with the first smile upon his face I had seen there since he told me his dreadful news.
"Many thanks. Now the next thing to consider is, how is Castellan to reply."