“The fellow told the earl of the paper; he said that it was then in the possession of another. I met him afterward in the road; it was after dark, and I was soon squeezing his story from his throat.”
“And he told you——?”
“He told me how he sailed from France in the Ranger; how you were now leagued with him, and Jones, also; and you, he said, were the person who had the paper.”
“I understand the matter now,” said Ethan. “He told you what it suited him to have you believe.”
Danvers laughed.
“Oh, don’t try to throw the dust in my eyes like that,” he said. “I’m too old a hand for that sort of thing.”
Ethan at once saw that it would be the merest folly to attempt to convince the man of the Lascar’s deception, so he said nothing more.
“Our friend, Siki,” said Danvers, “is now safe on board the frigate, Drake, which is lying at Carrickfergus; she was in these waters at the time of my capture of him, and I had him sent aboard for safe keeping.”
“I suppose,” said Ethan after a short silence, “that we two are destined for some hulk or prison.”
“For a prison, you may be sure,” laughed the emissary of the crown, “but a private prison of my own. You’ll be safe enough there until I can end the whole matter. And now, where is the dispatch?”