“So he's going to sneak out of it, after all,” I thought to myself.
A moment later the Captain himself came down. He was pale, and covered with dust, and plainly had not slept, but perfectly sober. He called to me from a distance:
“Hei! how did you get in there?”
I touched my cap, but said nothing.
“Somebody been breaking in again?”
“It was only . . . I just remembered I'd left out a couple of nails here yesterday. It's all right now. If Captain will lock up again . . .”
Fool that I was! If that was the best excuse I could find, he would see through it all at once.
He stood for a few seconds looking at the door with half-closed eyes; he had his suspicions, no doubt. Then he took out the key, locked up the place, and walked off. What else could he do?