Tommie stood by whilst George read out the letter. This is a verbatim copy:
“You called me a scoundrel. I am, maybe, but not the way you meant. Right away from the first you said to yourselves, the whole three of you, that this fellow Candon had let you down, gone off with the ship and boodle. You asked me had I gone aboard for those pistols, and I said I had. You asked me had I sailed off and left you and I said I had. You asked me had I any reason for going, meaning, in your left-handed way, was I a blackguard or not, and I said I hadn’t. I hadn’t. I was took.
“I’ll tell you. When I left the beach that night and got the Chinks to row me aboard for those automatics, I found the cabin on board lit, the bunk bedding all pulled about and everything upside down and Charlie down there putting things to rights. I said to myself, that’s Hank’s work, the Chinks have nosed the diamonds and been on the search, and got them, to judge by the mess they’ve made. I saw it was serious but said nothing, went to the locker for the guns and whilst my back was turned, Charlie slipped on deck. The guns were there, the Chinks had been too busy to hunt for them. I took one of the automatics and saw it was loaded. As I was handling it, I heard the door of the cabin hatch shut and knew at once I was bottled and cursed myself for being such a fool and not getting on deck quicker. I remembered the galley hatch and made for it, nearly killing myself against the foc’sle bulkhead. The galley hatch was shut. I made back for the cabin and tried to burst the door. It was held like a rock by the bolts and something shoved against it. I thought of firing an automatic out of one of the ports for help, till I remembered you had no boat. If I’d once dreamed that you’d have suspected me, I’d have fired the lot, but I could not think that and it never entered my mind.”
George paused for a moment.
“That shows you what jumping at conclusions too quickly, comes to. Here’s the best fellow on earth, seems to me, and we—at least I did—yes, I did, I wrote him off as a scoundrel right from the beginning—almost.”
“We didn’t,” cried Tommie. “I didn’t, I know I felt there must be something that took him away. I never gave up hope till I saw you all standing on the deck of the Wear Jack and that you were scarcely speaking to him, and that he didn’t seem to be explaining things—I don’t know if I even quite gave up then—oh, dear!”
Her agitation made Hank blaze up.
“Why in the nation,” he cried, “couldn’t he have explained.”
“You called him a scoundrel,” said George. “He saw we’d marked him down without trial, and he was that sort.”