“Get even with him!” cried the captain. “Then you did have a quarrel. I can’t seem to get head or tail of this business.”
“It was like this, Captain,” said Henry, seeing now that he could no longer keep anything back. “I found Black asleep. I told him I would report him to you. We had some words. But please don’t think I’m reporting Black because I’m sore at him, or anything like that.”
“I begin to understand,” nodded the captain. “Is there any one else who knows about this affair?”
“No one was present, sir, but Belford knows about it.”
“Send him to me,” said the commander.
Henry relieved his fellow-operator at the key, and Belford went direct to the cabin. He told the captain all he knew about the affair.
“I think I understand now,” said the commander. “Harper told Black he would report him, and Black called him a spy. That went hard with Henry. He couldn’t help feeling he was a sort of spy, even though he was doing his plain duty.”
“And don’t forget, sir, that Black threatened to fix Henry if he reported him,” said Belford.
The commander of the Iroquois turned the situation over in his mind. “Jimmy,” he said, “was there any good reason why Black should have fallen asleep? Was he worn out, as some of the rest of the crew were, by their long efforts?”
“He was the freshest man on the boat,” said Belford, with feeling. “He never left our cabin the whole time we were trying to save our men, and most of the time I think he was in bed.”