“How deep is the water at the anchorage, Max—I mean at the buoy where you tied up last night?”
“I haven’t an idea. Thirty feet, perhaps.”
“We’ll be there presently, and after we have anchored, if the ladies will indulge me in the desire, I will borrow one of those bathing-suits and take a dip. Who will join me?” he added, taking them all in in his question.
But Kane alone replied in the affirmative. The count shrugged his shoulders, and remarked that he would much prefer his book and a cigar under the awning, and the ladies said they would seize that opportunity to be put ashore, in order that they might make the calls in the neighborhood which they had been unable to do the preceding evening.
Thirty minutes later the Goalong was made fast to the buoy where she was floating at the time of Captain Sparkle’s unannounced visit.
CHAPTER IV.
NICK’S DEDUCTIONS.
The detective was not sorry when, a little later, he found that the ladies had prevailed upon the count to accompany them on their trip ashore; and that, therefore, he would be left alone on the yacht with Maxwell Kane. And, as soon as the yacht was deserted, save for themselves and the crew, the two friends lost no time in getting into the bathing-suits.
Before either of them dived into the depths of the water, however, Nick dropped into one of the chairs under the awning and motioned to Kane to take the seat beside him.