“Come, come,” said Lord Towyn sternly, his blue eyes blazing with a light that terrified the captain. “None of your bluff, fellow. It won’t work with me. I know with whom I am dealing. You are the servant of Craven Black, and what have you to urge against my having you indicted with him for the abduction of Miss Wynde?”
The captain fairly gasped for breath. He looked helplessly toward the shore.
“I haven’t done nothing,” he muttered presently, quailing under the steady, fixed and stern gaze of the earl’s blue eyes. “I’ve hired as cap’n, and I am cap’n; but that’s all. On my soul, I an’t no party to no abduction.”
“Your past character will be examined to throw light upon your present motives and doings,” said the earl, with a telling random shot.
The captain winced and quavered.
“Now see here, my man,” said Lord Towyn, following up his advantage. “If you have done anything wrong in the past, it will be like a leaden weight to drag you down when the officers of the law arrest you for assisting in the abduction of Miss Wynde. It makes no difference to you whom I am. Your game is up. The officers of the law have accompanied us up from London. There are four of us in all upon the trail of Craven Black. Refuse to do as I tell you, and I’ll call yonder policeman on the wharf and give you up on the charge of abducting a lady of rank and fortune.”
“What do you want of me?” the captain asked falteringly. “I haven’t had my pay from Mr. Black, and he’ll kill me if I betray him.”
“He need not know that you have betrayed him,” said our hero. “You need not leave this vessel. All that you have to do to secure your safety is this: Tell me exactly the whereabouts of Miss Wynde, and her friends will follow the yacht at a safe distance, quite out of sight from your deck, and you can remain on board and collect your pay of Mr. Black. He need not suspect that you have betrayed him.”
“And what will I gain by betraying him?”
“Your freedom from arrest. You see the policeman still stands on the wharf? So sure as you refuse to speak, and speak quickly, I’ll call him!”