"Then how did you come to do it?"
"I—I didn't do it, Miss," Jack answered. "I didn't fall overboard."
"You didn't?" cried Alice, not noticing the accent Jepson put on one word.
"No, Miss. Not exactly."
He looked around as though to make sure no one was listening, and then, in a hoarse whisper, he said:
"I didn't fall overboard. I was tossed!"
Then, before she could ask him what he meant, he gave her a warning glance, and passed on. Just as he did so, Captain Brisco came along the passage way.
"I was just coming down to see how you were," he said, with a quick look at Alice. "I didn't know you were here, Miss DeVere," he continued, rather awkwardly. "Hope the accident didn't upset you."
"Oh no," she said, glad that it was rather dark, and that the commander could not notice how pale she had become at hearing the ominous words of the old sailor.
"Accidents will happen, but they don't always end so luckily," the captain went on. Jack Jepson had passed up on deck, and Alice, not feeling in the mood for talking, passed to her cabin. Captain Brisco, after a moment of hesitation, went up on deck again, and, had anyone observed him, they would have seen him in close conversation with Hen Lacomb. The two men spoke in low tones.