"Moody has four pistols, all of them seven-shooters," said the detective, who seemed to be determined effectually to counteract the influence of the blunder he had made.
"Four seven-shooters!" exclaimed Pearl. "He is a walking arsenal. He would sink if he should fall overboard with such a weight of arms upon him; and I think he had better pass them out through the hole you have been so kind as to make."
"He concludes that he may want them, and he don't mean to fall overboard," replied Peppers.
"All right! but let him be very careful with them; for pistols are dangerous things in such a little hole as you now occupy," answered Pearl, who was no simpleton, and was confident that Moody had no pistol, to say nothing of four of them.
A silence of a full hour followed, for neither party seemed to have any plan to act upon. It was plain enough to Dory that the new skipper had discovered the presence of the detective on board of the boat, either before or soon after he went into her himself. A little later he saw a plaid overcoat lying on the forward deck. It was odd enough to betray the identity of its owner, who had forgotten to take it into the cabin with him.
It afterwards appeared that Moody had sneezed twice. This was the sound the skipper heard; and it informed the later passenger that the cabin was occupied, as the coat explained by whom. Two hours had elapsed since the capture of the boat; and the Goldwing was off Cumberland Head, hugging the Grand Isle shore.