“It’s odd what became of all the sailors,” she thought. “Surely someone would be here to tell the story, even if there had been a robbery. It’s the most mysterious thing I ever encountered.”
Presently, she reentered Mr. Burnett’s cabin to look again for clues. Crossing to the desk, she jerked open a drawer. To her astonishment, she saw, tucked beneath some papers, a leather billfold. A glance disclosed that it contained two twenty dollar bills.
“This doesn’t look like robbery after all,” Madge told herself. “I don’t know what to make of it now.”
She was even more puzzled when she entered the bathroom adjoining the cabin and found a silver watch lying upon the shelf above the wash bowl. She was still examining it when she became aware of a slight scraping sound in the bedroom. At first she thought she must be mistaken, but as she heard it again, she hastily retraced her steps.
All was quiet in the stateroom. Madge looked about but could see no cause for the strange sound. She was about to turn away when it was repeated, and this time she distinctly traced it to a closet on the opposite side of the room.
“There’s some one in there!” she thought in excitement.
She ran to the door and tried to jerk it open. It was locked.
As she moved the handle, she heard the same scraping noise, louder than before. Now she knew that someone was imprisoned within and pulled frantically at the knob. Realizing that she was only wasting her strength, she looked about the room for some object with which to break the lock. Instead, her eye fell upon a key that lay on the carpet at her feet. Evidently, it had fallen from the door or had been dropped purposely.
With nervous fingers she fitted it into the lock. It refused to turn. She worked with it and after several attempts, was rewarded by a sharp click.
She jerked open the door and stepped back in amazement and horror. There at her feet, bound and gagged, lay Enid.