“That craft there certainly does look like the Shadow,” muttered the skipper. “She’s bearing down upon us, too, and coming with the swiftness of the thing she’s named after.”
“Sparkle couldn’t have escaped,” said Max uneasily; “and if he had done so, he could not very well have repossessed himself of the Shadow, could he?”
“I can’t rightly answer that question, Mr. Kane,” replied the skipper. “You see, sir, I don’t know any more about it than you do, seeing that I’ve been with you all the time, and that we left New York so soon after the capture of the pirate and his wonderful vessel, I don’t even know what was done with the Shadow. She was libeled, wasn’t she?”
“Blessed if I know,” replied Kane. “There was a whole lot of red tape about the disposition of her, and I didn’t remain around to find out how it did turn out. The Westchester County authorities claimed her; the New York police claimed her, and the United States district attorney claimed her. The last I knew of her, she was in charge of an inspector of the treasury department, and nobody seemed to know what would be done with her eventually.”
Bessie Harlan had remained very quiet during this discussion, but now she interrupted:
“You have forgotten one thing, Max,” she said.
“Well, what?”
“You have forgotten the count.”
“Oh, blast the count!” was the somewhat savage rejoinder.
“All the same,” continued Bessie, “the count escaped, did he not?”