Then he bethought himself of the passageway under the cabin-floor. He would wait till a late hour, and then endeavor to escape by that way.
Up to this time he had been so engrossed with thoughts of his own freedom that he had quite forgotten the money which he believed the boys had found. Now it came back to him with redoubled force. Long years of a roving, reckless life had prepared him for almost every emergency. Taking from his pocket a small folding lantern and a diminutive spirit-lamp, he soon got it in working order.
All this time the Swan had been rocking on the waves, but suddenly there was a shock, and then she lay quiet and still.
Patiently the prisoner waited. He heard the noise of feet upon the deck, and then all was silent.
"They have landed, and quitted the vessel," he muttered. "Now is my time to escape."
He struck a match and lighted his little lantern, looking at his watch by its feeble rays. It was past ten o'clock.
As rapidly as possible he searched the cabin thoroughly—the berths, the locker for food, and the bunker for wood.
Having satisfied himself that the money was not hidden in any of these, he unfastened and raised the trap-door, and descended into the vacant place below the floor. Almost creeping on his face, he moved along, noticing at once that the ballast had been moved.
Then the corner of the sack in which the money had been placed caught his eye, and he unfastened the iron bars and moved them to one side. His breath came quick and heavy. He had found the money!
So intent was he in his searching that he had not noticed that the door had closed in the cabin floor. In fact, the rattle of the iron bars as he moved them had drowned the noise of its fall.