It was decided not to reveal the identity of the prisoner, for this would have aroused the citizens to the fury of a lawless mob.
So the would-be assassin was locked up as a common burglar.
From Juanita, Clif and Joy learned that it was she who had discovered the presence of the Englishman. She had gone into the library for something, after her father had retired, and had been just in time to see a strange man tiptoeing from her father’s apartments.
She screamed, and the intruder made a dash for the nearest window, and leaped boldly through the sash. It was plain the desperate man had worked quickly.
Clif explained the arousing of his suspicions by the broken tree branch, then he and Joy took their departure.
It was long after midnight before they reached the ship, and they had already been marked in the log as “absent without leave.”
Clif’s story speedily caused the erasing of the entry, and on every hand he and Joy were hailed as heroes of the first water.
The authorities failed to get any account from Cate of how he had escaped from the river. The man was locked up in a dungeon, and there remained a long time.
During the balance of the stay at Lisbon, Clif was made a social lion to such an extent that he was glad when the announcement came that the training ship would up anchor and away for the island of Madeira. Clif hated to part with Juanita, but she promised to write often, and with this he had to be content.