Frank passed down below as he said this and made his way to the storeroom.
He found the door broken open.
Going in he saw that the prisoner was not there.
Very much startled Frank searched all over for the man, but soon discovered that he was not aboard the Pegasus.
A long drag-rope hung down from the side.
Its end almost trailed in the sea, as the engine of the clouds had been lowered to within a few hundred feet of the ocean to get her out of a dense cloud bank.
One of the four life-preservers was gone.
It was clear that Martin Murdock had broken from the room, took a life-preserver, went up on deck unseen, lowered the drag-rope and slid down to the sea.
It was, he calculated, safer to trust himself to the mercy of the ocean than remain aboard the Pegasus, be carried back to Chicago and have to answer to a charge of murder.
Seeing how matters stood, Frank returned to Barney and explained what had happened.