The son of toil looked at him and wondered who he was, for he had never seen his face before. He went to the bow and saw the Dragon, fifty feet from him by this time, and the steamer still backing. He had been sure of obtaining good advice and strong support from his friends on board, but he could not even find a person that he knew.
He walked aft, and looked into the engine-room. There was a man there, but he was bending over the machinery, and he did not see his face, but he appeared to be a stranger like all the others he had seen. He continued his walk to the door of the after cabin, but not a single Beech Hiller could he find. It looked to him as though, if the thing had been possible, the Sylph had been captured by an enemy, who were then in full possession of her.
Paul returned to the forecastle, and again looked up at the windows of the pilot-house. The man at the wheel appeared to be talking to some person or persons behind him, who were not in sight. At this moment the engine stopped again, and the steamer was at rest on the smooth water. Paul was confident that the persons in the pilot-house had seen the whole or a portion of the hard battle at Sandy Point, for the tree where he had secured Tom Topover was in plain sight from the lake.
The deck hand seemed to take no notice of him, though he could not help seeing him, and observing all his movements. As the steamer had stopped her propeller, and run close in to the shore, she must be there for a purpose. The last he had seen of her before the bruiser opened the fight, she was running with tremendous speed down the lake. After that she slowed down, and headed for the point, for he had obtained an occasional glimpse of her even in the heat of the struggle with the strategist.
"Is Captain Dory Dornwood on board, sir?" asked Paul, very respectfully, of the deck hand, who had walked forward to look out.
"I don't know him," replied the man shortly, but civilly enough.
"Are none of the Beech Hill fellows on board?"
"I don't know the Beech Hill fellows," answered the man.
Paul was utterly bewildered. He looked up at the pilot-house once more to find a solution of the mystery if he could. The stranger still stood at the wheel, and was still talking with some one not in sight. Just then it occurred to Paul that there was something wanting in the appearance of the pilot-house. In the station bill he belonged on the forecastle of the Sylph, and was more familiar with this part of her than with any other. He studied the situation for some time before he could determine what was wanting to complete the usual appearance of the steamer. At last he was able to supply the deficiency. On the front and on each side of the pilot house was a sign on which was painted the name of the craft. They were not there; and if the strangers had captured the Sylph they had removed these signs. There was nothing in sight to indicate that the vessel was the Beech Hill steam yacht.