More curious than ever, Martin wished that he could find some means of discovering what the three conspirators, as he now considered them, were about to discuss. He thought of going in and buying a cup of coffee on the chance that he might learn something, but after a moment’s reflection gave up the idea; there would be too much danger of his being caught.
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
WHAT MARTIN FOUND
The tide was running strong up the river when Martin started on his round next morning. There was promise that the day would be hotter than ever, but the wind, blowing briskly from the east, tempered the heat, though at the same time it rendered doubly hard the task of rowing the heavy wherry.
Martin was just pulling away from a brig at which he had delivered some loaves, when a boat, sculled by a single seaman, passed him in the opposite direction. He recognised it at once as the boat belonging to the Santa Maria, and the oarsman as the man who found it so difficult to keep awake.
Previously he had seen him only in the evening, and he could not help feeling curious as to what his errand was.
After visiting in turn the ships on his list, and scratching off the name of one that had left her moorings, he came at length to the last, the Santa Maria.
“She won’t be here long,” he thought, noticing that a lighter lay on each side of her.
From the one on the starboard side cargo was being hoisted on board by means of a clumsy kind of derrick. He made his boat fast to the other, put the loaves into his sack, threw the empty basket into the stern, and, with the sack slung over his shoulder, swarmed up by a rope that hung from a second derrick, placed ready for use when the second lighter should be discharged.