I suddenly remembered that when I stored my kit under my berth I had noticed a crack in the partition between the staterooms, and stepping noiselessly out upon the floor I stooped down, pushed my bag to one side, and crawled in beside it. Placing my ear to the crack I was able to distinguish much that passed between Master Rollins and his visitor, though they conversed in whispers.
He was Captain Williamson, as I had suspected, and had evidently announced his failure to enter my room, for his companion was saying:
“It is too bad, Captain; so the first part of your plan fails.”
“Yes, and now I’ll try the second,” was the response.
“You’ll need to proceed with great caution, for if discovered they’ll be likely to put you down with the other prisoners,” Master Rollins now warned him.
“Yes,” the captain admitted, “but it’s worth the risk. If I can only crawl along to the hatch and open it, the vessel is ours again. What we lack in weapons we shall make up in numbers, and can easily overpower the half dozen men on deck. Then Master Dunn down here and the men in the forecastle can be taken care of at our leisure.”
“I shall stand by my agreement if you succeed, Captain Williamson, and add a hundred pounds to the one I am to give you when you land me on the cape.”
“I have no fear about that, Master Rollins. You have done always just as you promised, but I think this time I shall have earned it,” the officer commented, and turned to go.
I waited until I had heard him pass my door, and ascend the ladder to the deck; then I slipped out of my room and hurried after him. But the moment my head was above the hatchway I knew that his second plan had failed, for Midshipman Blinn had been on the alert, and detected his presence on deck.
“What does this mean, Captain Williamson?” he was demanding. “You know as well as I do that you were not to come on deck during the night hours. I must insist that you return to the cabin immediately, or I shall have to put you in the brig with your men.”