“Oh, no, we’ll not go to that trouble,” Nick interposed, smiling. “I can get along without one. I merely thought that I’d try one of yours while we were discussing this knavish business.”
“I’m sorry, sir, that I haven’t one.”
“It don’t matter. Just where were you, Toulon, when you saw the three men?”
“I was near the bulkhead door and steps to the cellar,[Pg 14]” Toulon now replied glibly. “But I didn’t see the men, sir.”
“Why was that?”
“Because they were hidden on the steps, sir, and they jumped on me before I could get a look at them.”
“Was the bulkhead door open?”
“It must have been, or I would have heard them open it.”
“I see.”
“The first I knew, sir, was when they sprang on me from behind,” Toulon proceeded to explain. “One of them cracked me on the head with a sand bag. Another got me by the throat and jabbed something into my neck. Here’s where it scratched me. It seemed to take all the strength out of me. Then they bound and gagged me, sir, and then threw me down the steps and closed the door.”