The two commanders stood in the shadow of the poop-deck conversing in low, serious tones. Phil had found that the boat was ready alongside and had advanced to report. The figure of a man, also in the shadow, his body bent forward in a listening attitude, caught his eye. Phil stopped, and at once the man drew back and walked silently away. Phil crossed over to investigate the identity of the evident eavesdropper. Suddenly from the gloom of the deck the captain’s orderly appeared.
“Were you looking for me, sir?” the sailor said respectfully.
Phil hesitated. He was on the point of denouncing him as an eavesdropper.
“I thought I heard you call, sir,” the sailor added apologetically. “I was on a message forward for the captain.”
“Yes, report to the captain that the English gig is at the gangway,” Phil ordered. The midshipman decided he had confronted the wrong man. “Did you pass any one as you came aft?” he asked as an afterthought.
“Yes, sir,” the orderly replied readily. “Just there a man passed going forward. I took him for one of the electrical gang. He came out of the cabin, I think.”
The orderly crossed the deck, saluted stiffly and made his report. The two captains walked slowly toward the gangway. Phil took his place to the left of the regular officer of the deck.
“Good-night,” the Englishman said, his hand to his cap. “You’ll find us ready when you say the word, Tazewell,” he added in a loud aside as he briskly descended the ladder to his boat.
Phil hesitated whether to tell the captain of his suspicions. The man might have been an electrician, as the orderly had said. Phil crossed over to the exact spot where he had seen the man stand and tried to strike the same attitude. An electric globe light fixture was above his head, but it was not lighted. He reached up and turned the switch. The light did not burn. That was why the deck there was in shadow. The man must have been an electrician who was examining the fixture. The thing was so simple that Phil tried to dismiss the incident from his mind.
“What is that orderly’s name?” he asked of the boatswain’s mate of the watch.