The Judge had wandered in, and was surveying the pair, his hands deep in his trousers-pockets.

Urquhart nodded. "You've bit it," he said.

Lancelot had been certain of it. Good Lord! The questions crowded upon him. "What kind of a ship was yours?"

"She was a brigantine. Fifteen hundred tons."

"Oh! I say—" with the air of, You needn't tell me if you'd rather not—"was she a good one?"

"She was a clipper."

"What name?"

"The Dog Star."

This was beyond everything. "Oh—good. Did you ever hang fellows?"

"We did."