“My cigar was on the last quarter—I told you that once already; but never mind—and I had about made up my mind to light a fresh one, when I discovered that I hadn’t another one in my pocket, and would have to go below to get it. That settled it. If I had felt any doubt about smoking another cigar, the discovery of the fact that I had not another one in my possession made me want nothing on earth so much as that cigar. So I rose to go below.
“You will observe, from my present position, that I was obliged to turn in order to do so.
“The companionway is behind me.”
“I got up, stretched myself, chucked my two-thirds-smoked cigar into the water, and turned——”
He paused, as if to give emphasis to the concluding statement; and, after a moment of silence, the detective said:
“Well, what then?”
“The pirate stood directly in front of me.”
“On the deck of your own yacht—of this yacht?”
“Exactly. Right there—on that spot,” and Kane pointed with his finger toward a point on the deck directly in front of him, for he had risen while he was speaking, in order to act out this dramatic incident of his story.
“Was he alone?” asked Nick.