"That's a lie!" insisted Captain Bert. "If my schooner had rammed one of the fleet, how come it she fetched up to the east'ard of the Cowyard? A burnin' schooner that rams a vessel ain't likely to recover herself and make a half-turn against the wind."
"By gum, that's right!" agreed Captain Ed. "I told ye Bert never done it——"
"And the light—did ye notice?" Captain Bert went on. "'Twas yellow and the Mary's was red. The Mehitable never caught fire from the Mary. She was set afire from the inside. Part of that yellow light was kerosene."
The stranger looked at Captain Ed and smiled.
"I admit the idea of scuttlin' the fleet come to me," Captain Bert went on, "but I never sanctioned Bill to set the Mary afire. He done it without my knowin'. Said he'd got a customer for the old hulk in Gloucester—got me to sail there with her tonight."
"A fake trip," put in Captain Ed. The stranger held up a hand to restrain him.
"I fought for the wheel when he set the Mary afire—and I got it. I sheered the Mary off from the fleet, and 'twas while Bill and me fought for the wheel that the mains'l fell blazin' on Bill—and I done my best to save him——"
"It was that burn on his back that killed Bill," Captain Ed explained. "Mr. Clyde, as a friend of Cap'n Bert's, I forbid ye to tantalize him any longer."
"I'm accepting your orders," smiled the stranger. "Cap'n Blackmer, don't think we're blind to what you did. We were trailing the Mary Chilton in the fog. We saw everything that happened."