'I suppose some of them took to the boat,' said Toffy. 'In an affair of that sort it is a case of sauve qui peut.'
'The whole crew would have swamped the boat,' said Dunbar, who liked giving small pieces of information at a time.
'Consequently——' said Peter.
'Consequently,' said Dunbar, 'I 'm just biding my time, and I 'll tell you more when there 's more to tell.'
'It's a queer story!' said Peter.
'It's queerer than you think!' said Dunbar.
'You can't believe,' said the other, 'that this man Smith went off in the boat by himself?'
'I don't,' said Dunbar, 'for E. W. Smith couldn't row, and with all his sea-going he was a landsman to his finger-tips.'
'So then,' said Peter, 'he must have had accomplices, and accomplices always tell tales.'
'There 's one very certain way of silencing men,' said the Scot.