“Never mind that! How long is it since you left him?”
“Quite five minutes,” Jake answered coolly.
Struck by something in his tone, Dick ran below and found no luggage in Kenwardine’s room. None of the stewards whom he asked had seen him for some time, and a hasty search showed that he was not on deck. Dick went back to Jake.
“Do you know where the fellow is?” he asked sharply as Don Sebastian came up.
“If you insist, I imagine he’s on board the Spanish boat,” Jake answered with a chuckle. “As she seems to have her anchor up, I guess it’s too late for us to interfere.”
A sharp rattle of chain that had rung across the water suddenly stopped and Dick saw one of the steamer’s colored side-lights slowly move. It was plain that she was going to sea.
“Since we had been passed by the doctor, there was nothing to prevent the shore boats coming alongside, and I believe one or two did so before we quite stopped,” Jake resumed. “They were, no doubt, looking for a job, and the ladder was already lowered.”
“Then you knew Kenwardine meant to steal away?”
“I didn’t know, but thought it likely,” Jake replied with some dryness. “On the whole, it was perhaps the best thing he could do. What’s your opinion, Don Sebastian?”
The Spaniard smiled. “I think the President will be satisfied that it was the simplest way out of the difficulty.”