“Are you quite positive it was the same man?”
“I’m as sure of it as I am that I am talking wid ye at this minute.”
“But what is he doing on the Ranger?”
“Sure he’s a sailor, so he is; the bos’en told me that he shipped on the day we sailed.”
Next day Ethan questioned Wallingford.
“A brown fellow, eh?” mused the ship’s third officer. “Let me see! Oh, yes, I remember. He’s a Lascar, I think, and gave the name of Siki. I signed him and the master’s mate whom I told you about yesterday. They seem to be great cronies. Always to be found in odd corners, whispering away like all possessed.”
Ethan waited until he saw the Lascar with his own eyes before he was satisfied. Then he went to Captain Jones, and told him all that he knew about the man.
“So you think that this fellow, Siki, as he calls himself, had something to do with the attack upon the schooner in Delaware Bay?” said the commander sternly.
“I feel sure of it, sir; though of course I did not see him.”
“And you think that he was after the packet given you by Mr. Hancock?”