“I heard the noise in the corridor, and heard Plumbo telling you that something had happened to the Sea Eagle,” he said excitedly.
“I don’t know that anything has happened yet,” cried Dr. Perkins anxiously; “I’m hoping not. But from what I can gather from Plumbo’s foolish talk three men induced him, on some pretext, to leave the ship unguarded. I must say it looks suspicious. But I cannot think who there is in this place where we are unknown who would want to harm us.”
The thought of Duval flashed across Harry’s mind. He and Frank had decided not to tell Dr. Perkins about their encounter lest it should worry him; but surely the time to tell about it had come now.
“We ought to have told you,” he said, rather falteringly, “but we did not want to cause you undue anxiety,—we saw Duval this afternoon.”
Dr. Perkins almost shouted the question, or rather exclamation, in a thunderstruck tone.
“Yes. We tried to catch him, but he escaped us. Frank can tell you all about it. By the way, where is Frank?”
“Isn’t he in your room?”
“No; when I was awakened by the noise in the passage I saw that his bed was empty. I supposed that he had got out of bed ahead of me and had come in here.”
“I haven’t seen him since we retired.”