"He--he went into the cabin," said Ella, shrinking from speaking too openly. "He went down first of all to look for George Petherton, and found he was not on board. He was below when I fainted."
"We'll soon see after him. You can be getting into the boat again," he added to the men.
The cabin door had been broken open: by Stone, of course. Conroy only supposed it had been done in the wreck, and descended the stairs. Presently he returned.
"Stone is not below. He is certainly not on board. I have looked everywhere."
"But he must be on board," said Ella, who did not wish to leave him to his fate, although he had behaved so ill to her. "He had no means of getting away. The little boat was gone."
"Unless he swam on shore," suggested Conroy. "A good swimmer could do it."
One of the men looked up to speak.
"Hubert Stone is one of the best swimmers we have, sir. The young lady knows it. He must ha' swum after the boat."
"Look here," interposed the other man: "as we were nearing the brig here, I saw something moving through the water a goodish distance off; but whether it was a man, or what it was, I couldn't make out."
"It must have been Stone that you saw," said Mr. Conroy. "In any case, he is not here. He must have gone to get help for you," he added to Ella: "a brave fellow!--though he had the tide all in his favour."