"Listen!" ordered Blake. "Don't you hear a ticking?"
They both stood at attention.
"I do hear something like a clock," admitted Joe. "But I don't see any. I didn't know there was one in this stateroom."
"There isn't, either," said Joe, with a glance about. "But I surely do hear something."
"Maybe it's your own watch working overtime."
"Mine doesn't tick as loud as that," and Blake pulled out his timepiece. Even with it out of his pocket the beat of the balance wheel could not be heard until one held it to his ear.
"But what is it?" asked Joe, curiously.
"It seems to come from Mr. Alcando's baggage," Blake said. "Yes, it's in his berth," he went on, moving toward that side of the stateroom. The nearer he advanced toward the sleeping place of the Spaniard the louder became the ticking.
"He's got some sort of a clock in his bed," Blake went on. "He may have one of those cheap watches, though it isn't like him to buy that kind. Maybe he put it under his pillow and forgot to take it out. Perhaps I'd better move it or he may not think it's there, and toss it out on the floor."
But when he lifted the pillow no watch was to be seen.