"If the fact caused you to investigate, it may also have induced others to make inquiry," he remarked. "Do you think it has?"
"How can I tell? One fact is certain, namely, that I am the only person who was a witness of the crime, or who overheard the unseen man's suggestion."
"You would be unable to recognise the voice of that person?" he asked.
"Yes," I responded. "In that wild hurricane it was difficult to distinguish the tone of voice."
He remained thoughtfully silent for a long time. The muscles of his grotesque face worked strangely, and in his eyes was a crafty look which somehow gave me the impression that he was aware of more than he had told me.
"Well," he exclaimed at last, shifting his position slightly and looking me straight in the face, "and what is your present suggestion?"
"It seems very plain that if the yacht sails she is doomed, with all on board," I said, "therefore, she must not leave Leghorn."
"I quite grant that," responded my companion; "but how can you prevent it? Her owner is a person of many eccentricities. This morning he says he will remain here a week, yet to-night, when you are all calmly asleep, he may order his captain to put to sea. Who is to prevent him? Neither you nor myself."
"My intention is to keep a strict watch upon his movements, and ascertain where he goes, and whether any explosive is taken on board," I said.
"A most laudable intention, but I fear it is one that you will find very difficult to execute," he said. "If I may be permitted to advise, you should leave that matter to me, and turn your attention rather to the locked deck-house. By some means you must gain an entry, and see what is really concealed there."