“Tom Gradbarr!” exclaimed Mr. Lockyer; “those are his initials.”
“Who is this Gradbarr?” asked Tom; “what kind of er craft is he?”
“Why, he is a singularly capable man, who applied for work here a few days ago. He came highly recommended, so I put him to work helping the gang that is cleaning up the hull, for you see, practically all the work is completed.”
“Would he have had any object in injuring the boat?” asked Ned, for Sim’s story had naturally aroused all their suspicions.
“None that I know of,” was the rejoinder; “but, still, in work of this kind it is hard to tell who may seek to damage you.”
“But surely he would have attacked the engines first if he had wished to disable the craft,” commented Ned, after a moment’s thought.
“Ah! but he could not do that,” said the inventor quickly; “the engine room is kept locked always. No one but myself has the key. It is there that most of our secrets are.”
“But the bulkhead door must have been locked, too,” persisted the boy.
“By Jove, so it was, and only Anderson, the foreman, had the key. I’ll send for him, and find out about this. Of course, to get into the gas compartment, the man must have had the key.”