“'No, sir. A stranger—a neutral,' was the answer.
“'No. Really! Well, tell us all about it. What is she doing here?'
“The young man stated then that he had been told a long and complicated story of engine troubles. But it was plausible enough from a strictly professional point of view and it had the usual features: disablement, dangerous drifting along the shore, weather more or less thick for days, fear of a gale, ultimately a resolve to go in and anchor anywhere on the coast, and so on. Fairly plausible.
“'Engines still disabled?' inquired the commanding officer.
“'No, sir. She has steam on them.'
“The commanding officer took his second aside. 'By Jove!' he said, 'you were right! They were holding their breaths as we passed them. They were.'
“But the second in command had his doubts now.
“'A fog like this does muffle small sounds, sir,' he remarked. 'And what could his object be, after all?'
“'To sneak out unnoticed,' answered the commanding officer.
“'Then why didn't he? He might have done it, you know. Not exactly unnoticed, perhaps. I don't suppose he could have slipped his cable without making some noise. Still, in a minute or so he would have been lost to view—clean gone before we had made him out fairly. Yet he didn't.'