"Don't distress yourself for another instant, Mr. Gilfleur, for Mr. Passford is on board of the ship at this moment, and doubtless asleep in his stateroom," said the captain, cutting short the narrative of the detective.
"On board of the ship!" exclaimed the Frenchman, retreating a few paces in his great surprise. "Impossible! Quite impossible! I found our boat just where we had left it at the back side of the island."
"But what I say is entirely true; and Mr. Passford wished me to have him called when you came on board," added the commander, as he sent a quartermaster to summon Christy to the captain's cabin.
"I don't understand how Mr. Passford can be on board of the ship," continued the bewildered Frenchman. "Ah, he might have hired a boat like the Eleuthera to bring him off."
"He might have done so, but he did not," replied Captain Chantor, as he directed the officer of the deck to go ahead, making the course east, as soon as he had secured the detective's boat. "Now, if you will come to my cabin, Mr. Gilfleur, Mr. Passford shall inform you himself that he is on board of the ship; and he has quite an exciting story to tell."
The commander and the Frenchman went below, and seated themselves in the cabin of the former.
"Mr. Passford has already informed me that the Ovidio is at Nassau, but that she has been seized by a British gunboat for violation of the neutrality laws," said the captain.
"That is quite true, and it is not probable that the case will be settled for a month to come," replied Mr. Gilfleur. "But I ascertained by great good luck that her armament was waiting for her at Green Cay, if you know where that is: I do not."
"It is on the Tongue of the Ocean, as it is called, nearly a hundred miles to the southward of Nassau. I supposed it would be managed in some such way as that," added the commander. "But do you think it will be a month before her case will be settled?"
"Of course I know nothing about it myself; but I found a court official who was very desirous of talking French, and he invited me to dine with him at his house. I began to ask him questions about the blockade, and the vessels in the harbor; and finally he gave me his opinion that a decision in the case of the Ovidio could not be reached in less than a month, and it might be two mouths."