"You made it rather hard for me to have a talk with you, my friend," he said.
The place was terrible with strain….
There had been a moment, as the Spaniard's hand crept to his pocket, in which Miss Mallory was powerless with fear, but she could not scream. It was as if Bedient's eyes had held her, too. She watched the pistol now. It was out of Key's reach, and he could not rise from a chair without great difficulty. Framtree did not seem to be armed, for which she was greatly attracted to him…. He had started to speak two or three times, but found no words. The appearance of Bedient seemed to have fascinated him for a moment, but now he managed to declare:
"It must have been the Chinese who turned, Señor…. Somebody went overboard—I think Sorenson."
And not until now did Miss Mallory venture to take her eyes from the cabin interior…. Madame Sorenson was fighting windmills of hysteria. Far back there was a blotch in the darkness, and a curious blend of sea-water, Russian and Chinese, as Sorenson was dragged into the boat; back farther still the lights of Jaffier's gunboat…. And now she found the Glow-worm staring at her, the big face drawing closer, and a rising flame of hope in the strange eyes.
"What have you done, dearest?" she questioned softly.
"He could swim. He told me he could swim," Miss Mallory heard herself repeating vaguely.
THIRTY-FIRST CHAPTER
THE GLOW-WORM'S ONE HOUR
Sorenson and the two Chinese were now eliminated. Señor Rey, disarmed, was not a physical menace; third Chinese was locked in the galley; in a sense Bedient and Framtree equalized; Madame Sorenson was having trouble to overcome her own hysteria; and Adith Mallory uncovered no hostility in the Glow-worm—quite the opposite. Framtree answered Bedient: