"We'd better talk a little, pards," said Matt, with a worried look.
"Vat's der madder?" inquired Carl.
He had not seen Captain Sixty, not having been in the office of the Snug Harbor Hotel at the time Dick and Matt had met Sixty and exchanged telegrams with him.
"The big fellow," explained Matt, "is the one who got my telegram last night. Why is he on this boat? That's the point that puzzles me."
"Maybe it's an accident, matey," returned Dick.
"Yes; and maybe it's design. I'd like to size this business up before we get clear of the river. If we don't like the looks of things, we can have the captain of the boat put us ashore."
"What's the trouble with the outlook, old ship?" queried Dick. "So far as I'm concerned, it was a shot between wind and water when I saw Sixty there at the rail; but I don't think that the fact of the old hunks being aboard the steamer is anything to worry us. He probably has business in Honduras as well as ourselves."
"I wish this boat was equipped with a wireless telegraph apparatus," muttered Matt. "There's a wireless station at Algiers, and we could flash a message to Townsend."
"What would be the use? We've got his orders."
"I'd like to have the orders confirmed," said Matt grimly. "I tried to get Townsend over the phone just before I left the hotel, but, as luck would have it, the wire was busy."