Calamity locked the document in a steel deed-box, placed it under the bunk in his sleeping-cabin, and then went on deck, having previously told Sing-hi to keep watch outside the cabin and not to let the prisoner leave it. He was somewhat puzzled with regard to the promise he had made Fritz Siemann, for, should he be taken to Singapore with the other prisoners, he would certainly be interned. The only way out of it, seemingly, was to put in at some neutral port and land the man there.
Some two hours later he returned to the cabin and found the prisoner seated on the settee ostensibly reading a book.
"I hope," said the Captain quietly, "you find the book entertaining, Mr. Siemann?"
"Ye—yes, thank you," answered the man rather nervously.
"May I ask, purely as a matter of curiosity, whether you always read your books upside down?"
The volume slipped from the German's hand and he muttered a guttural oath.
"I just picked it up as you came in," he said.
"And did your investigations meet with success?"
"My—I don't understand."
"I mean," went on the Captain, "did you succeed in your efforts to force that deed-box and abstract your confession?"