“Her skipper wouldn’t run off his course and lengthen the distance because the wind was fair.”
“No, I don’t suppose he would.”
“Well,” said Dick, “my impression is that he didn’t mean to start at all, and wouldn’t have done so if I hadn’t turned him out.”
Jake laughed. “After all, there’s no use in making a mystery out of nothing. The people offered us the coal, and you don’t suspect a dark plot to stop the works. What would they gain by that?”
“Nothing that I can see. I don’t think they meant to stop the works; but they wanted the coal. It’s not at Adexe, and there’s no other port the tug could reach. Where has it gone?”
“It doesn’t seem to matter, so long as we get a supply before our stock runs out.”
“Try to look at the thing as I do,” Dick insisted with a frown. “I forced the skipper to go to sea, and as soon as he had a good excuse his tow-rope parted, besides which the last barge went adrift from the rest. Her hawser, however, wasn’t broken. It was slipped from the craft she was made fast to. Then, though the tug’s engines were out of order, she steamed to leeward very fast and, I firmly believe, hasn’t gone back to Adexe.”
“I expect there’s a very simple explanation,” Jake replied. “The truth is you have a rather senseless suspicion of Kenwardine.”
“I’ll own I don’t trust him,” Dick answered quietly.
Jake made an impatient gesture. “Let’s see if we can get breakfast, because I’m going to his house afterwards.”