Before I answered him I took a minute or so to consider my position. I did not want to betray my secret unless I was absolutely compelled to do so, and yet I had good reason for believing that the old fellow would not have hinted that there was something I ought to know, unless his news were worth the telling. However, at last I made up my mind, took out my pocket-book and turned up a certain entry.
"There it is," I said, as I handed it to him to read. "I got that information first hand, so I know it can be relied upon. I threatened him with exposure, and though he was very high up the tree before, he soon climbed down."
Maalthaas read what was written on the page twice over, and then scribbled a few notes on a piece of paper, which he took from under his pillow. Having done so, he handed me back the book, which I pocketed.
"Now what have you got to tell me?" I inquired.
"First answer me one question," he said. "You're off to the wreck of the Monarch of Macedonia, are you not?"
"I'm not going to say whether we are, or are not," I answered; "but suppose, for the sake of argument, we are. What then?"
He leaned a little closer towards me, and his crafty old eyes twinkled in his head like two brilliant stars.
"In that case," he said, "my advice is, make haste, for you may be sure of one thing, and that is that you're not the first."
I sprang to my feet on hearing this. "Not the first!" I cried. "What the deuce do you mean? Why are we not the first?"