“Oh, I leave it to you, Captain!” said that gentleman; “I can’t keep them in cotton-wool.”
“And after all, it’s their find—if it be a find,” said the captain. “At least, it’s Miss Norah’s—but I can’t very well let you watch!” He smiled at Norah.
“It’s awful to be a girl!” said she, lugubriously. “But I suppose it can’t be helped. You’ll tell me all about it, won’t you?”
“You shall know all!” said the captain, dramatically. “Well, one watch must be kept in the empty cabin you are using for a dressing-room—cheer up, Miss Norah, we’ll give you another. You boys can watch there, if you like. Then I will have men posted further aft, also in an empty cabin; and a special watch kept on deck.”
“And if we see the flashes?”
“Report to Mr. Dixon. Both watches will close up on the alley-way leading to the cabin, and we’ll burst the door in. I’m having the hinges specially fixed, so that the screws will give, if necessary. If any one is there, he must be caught red-handed, or not at all. It’s a mercy that the cabin is unoccupied and that no one has any right to be there—to break violently in upon a feminine passenger doing nothing more deadly than using a spirit-lamp to heat curling-tongs, would lead to unpleasantness with the powers that be, at home!”
“I guess it was more than that,” Wally remarked.
“Oh, of course it was! Still, it may be capable of some very simple explanation; don’t run away with the idea that we have really an alien on board.” The captain smiled. “I know you want a scalp—but I don’t know that I do. And, in any case, I want to keep the matter from the other passengers. That sort of thing only leads to nervousness and excitement and I’m especially pleased in the present state of affairs, that my passengers show no signs of getting ‘jumpy’ over war risks. Coming out, there was a lady who used to consult the officers several times a day on the probability of being sunk, and she got on our nerves.”
“She would,” said Jim. “We shan’t speak of it, Captain. But can you keep it dark, if we make a capture?”
“Oh, I think so. Everything leads me to suspect one of the two Swedes; and the temporary disappearance of a hand may be easily explained to the rest of the crew, while the passengers need never hear about it. Lots of things occur on a voyage about which it isn’t necessary to inform the passengers,” said the captain, with a twinkle. “They’re all very good, of course—but they have such a way of asking questions!”