“Who first told him?”
“Merrill, like the man he is, reported his action ashore, but never referred to you, and Captain De Long asked who was Breslin’s companion, and I told him that you were, for, as a fellow cadet, you certainly would be willing to prove, as a witness, that Breslin was the aggressor, and was justly punished. Since I came aboard ship I learn that others saw the affair.”
“Ah!” and Clemmons started, and quickly asked:
“Do you know who they are?”
“I do not, for I overheard the affair being talked about, and as neither Merrill nor myself referred to it, and you doubtless did not, some of our fellows must have seen it, though unseen by us. If the affair is called up we will doubtless know who they are.”
Scott Clemmons looked uneasy, for he felt that his version would differ from what all others had, or might tell of the occurrence.
But he hoped that as he was already under punishment he would hear no more of it, so he said coldly:
“You wished to see me, I believe?”
“Yes, I wished to return to you a paper which you left on the dining table at the Astor House yesterday—the waiter gave it to me.”
He handed over the telltale paper as he spoke, and after a glance at it the face of Scott Clemmons crimsoned to a painful extent, and then so suddenly grew white that he seemed as though about to faint.