“Not he. He went over for a purpose.”
“For a purpose?” echoed Herc, looking sharply at Ned.
“That’s what I said.”
“Oh, for a swim, I suppose you mean—an unofficial swim.”
“No, something quite different from that.” Ned sunk his voice. “He went overboard to pick up a bit of paper that fellow in the boat threw out.”
Had a bombshell exploded at Herc’s feet, he could not have looked more astonished.
“Your mind works quicker than mine, I guess, Ned,” he said, “just as your eyesight is quicker. I didn’t see any bit of paper, but supposing there was?”
“Well, it may mean nothing. The fellow may have a sweetheart ashore who chooses this means of sending him a message, and then again——”
“It might all have been an accident.”
“We may have a traitor on board,” resumed Ned, not paying any attention to the interruption.