"The papers," he said in a low, menacing voice. "Understand me?"
The other did, apparently, for, with a muttered curse, he unlocked one of the table drawers and took therefrom a second bundle of documents.
"Take them and be damned to you," he said, flinging them on the table.
Calamity picked up the papers, and, as he glanced at them there was a look of grim satisfaction on his face.
"Will you be good enough to explain to me, Captain Noel, how it is that you happen to have two different sets of papers?" he inquired. "The first state that the Ann is a British ship, owned by Masters and Ready of Sunderland, and that she has cleared for Hongkong from Rio. The second batch declare her to be a German vessel, cleared for Bangkok from Bremen. They give the owner as——"
He stopped abruptly as he glanced again at the paper he was holding. A look of incredulous astonishment appeared on his face, but it was almost immediately succeeded by one of the keenest satisfaction.
"——Isaac Solomon of Singapore," he concluded.
The other made no answer, and for a moment or two Calamity regarded him thoughtfully.
"It's a clever trick and how you managed to obtain these two sets of papers I don't pretend to guess," he went on. "It may interest you, however, to know that the esteemed Mr. Isaac Solomon is a dear—one might almost say, expensive—friend of mine, and no doubt he will let me into the secret later on. What is your cargo, Captain?"
"Sand ballast and Portland cement," growled the other.