Part 8 (1/2)
”Why should she wait all that time?” asked Christy. ”Her commander knew nothing about the Ionian, that she was to take in a valuable cargo for her, and she will not wait for her.”
”That is true; but I am afraid we shall miss the Ovidio if we remain too long in these waters.”
”It seems to me that the Dornoch has had time enough to reach the Bermudas,” said Christy. ”Possibly she is in port at this moment.”
”That is a hara.s.sing reflection!” exclaimed the commander.
”I don't see that there is any help for it,” added Christy. ”You cannot go into the port of St. George's to see if she is there.”
”Why not?” asked Mr. Gilfleur, speaking for the first time. ”I spent a winter there when I was sick from over-work and exposure; and I know all about the islands.”
”That will not help me, Mr. Gilfleur,” said the captain, with a smile at what he considered the simplicity of the Frenchman.
”But why can you not go in and see if the Dornoch is there?” inquired the detective.
”Because if I learned that she was about to leave the port, the authorities would not let me sail till twenty-four hours after she had gone.”
”You need not wait till she gets ready to leave,” suggested the Frenchman.
”She might be ready to sail at the very time I arrived, and then I should lose her. Oh, no; I prefer to take my chance at a marine league from the sh.o.r.e,” added the captain, shaking his head.
”Perhaps I might go into Hamilton harbor and obtain the information you need,” suggested Mr. Gilfleur, looking very earnest, as though he was thinking of something.
”You!” exclaimed Captain Chantor, looking at him with amazement. ”How could you go in without going in the s.h.i.+p?”
”You know that I have a boat on deck,” replied the detective quietly.
”But you are not a sailor, sir.”
”No, I am not a sailor; but I am a boatman. After I had worked up the biggest case in all my life in Paris,--one that required me to go to London seven times,--I was sick when the bank-robbers were convicted, and the excitement was over. The doctors ordered me to spend the winter in Martinique, and I went to the Bermudas in an English steamer, where I was to take another for my destination; but I liked the islands so well that I remained there all the winter. My princ.i.p.al amus.e.m.e.nt was boating; and I learned the whole art to perfection. I used to go through the openings in the reefs, and sail out of sight of land. I had a boat like the one on deck.”
”Your experience is interesting, but I do not see how it will profit me,” said the captain.
”I can go to the Bermudas, obtain the information you want, and return to the Chateaugay,” replied Mr. Gilfleur rather impatiently.
”That would be a risky cruise for you, my friend,” suggested Captain Chantor, shaking his head in a deprecatory manner.
”I don't think so. I have been outside the reefs many times when the wind blew a gale, and I felt as safe in my boat as I do on board of this s.h.i.+p,” said the detective earnestly.
”How would you manage the matter?” asked the commander, beginning to be interested in the project.
”You shall run to the south of the islands, or rather to the south-west, in the night, with all your lights put out, and let me embark there in my boat. You will give me a compa.s.s, and I have a sail in the boat. I shall steer to the north-east, and I shall soon see Gibbs Hill light. By that I can make the point on the coast I wish to reach, which is Hogfish Cut. I have been through it twenty times. Once inside the reefs I shall have no difficulty in reaching Hamilton harbor. Then I will take a carriage to St. George's. If I find the Dornoch in the harbor, I will come out the same way I went in, and you will pick me up.”
”That looks more practicable than I supposed it could be,” added Captain Chantor.
”While I am absent you will be attending to your duty as commander of the Chateaugay, for you will still be on the lookout for your prize,”
continued the versatile Frenchman. ”You can run up twenty or thirty miles to the northward, on the east side of the islands, where all large vessels have to go in.”
”How long will it take you to carry out this enterprise, Mr. Gilfleur?”