“You can live under water, eh?[Pg 29]”
“I did at that time, Garvan, long enough to reach a point where none of you ferrets were looking for me.”
“But how did you turn the trick?” Patsy persisted.
“With a piece of rubber pipe about two feet long,” Margate coolly informed him. “I had picked it up on the launch, apprehending trouble, and slipped it into my pocket. When I found myself rising to the surface, knowing I was in bad and a gone goose if I was seen, I slipped one end of the tube into my mouth and thrust the other end above the surface, in order to breathe through the pipe. I then paddled downstream with the current, and without showing on the surface. That’s all there was to it, Garvan. A very simple trick, you see.”
Patsy expressed his appreciation with a nod.
“Much obliged,” he said tersely. “It was more than a simple trick, Mr. Margate. It was a very clever one. You lived up to your reputation, Margate, for fair.”
Margate’s eyes took on a more sinister gleam.
“I fooled you completely, didn’t I?” he exclaimed.
“You certainly did,” Patsy admitted.
“Nick Carter still thinks I am dead, doesn’t he?”