eed, I was now a man, whereas I had been only a boy
when I left England. But Rayel was with me now, and that repaid me for
all I had suffered. What would he have done in that lonely mansion
after his father's death? For hours my mind was occupied with these
reflections, and at length I determined to dress myself and go on deck.
Rayel awoke while I was dressing and decided to go with me.

We found the decks thronged with people, and the ship's crew were
bustling about, getting ready to sail. We stood near the gangway, facing
the dock. A man was pacing back and forth in the opening whose figure
seemed familiar to me. Presently he came aboard, and as he passed near
us I saw it was the omnipresent Mr. Murmurtot.

"I wonder if he is afraid somebody will steal the ship?" I remarked.

"No, he is looking for some person," said Rayel, divining my thoughts.

"All ashore! Stand away, there!" shouted one of the ship's officers.

The passengers fell back, the gangway was pulled aboard, the great
hawsers were loosened, and the ship moved slowly away from the dock. We
stood for a long time watching the river craft and the receding lights
of the city. The ship was well beyond the Atlantic Highlands when we
went to our stateroom and to bed again. We slept until late in the
morning, and arose barely in time for a late breakfast with Hester.
Rayel seemed cheerful enough and took more than ordinary interest in
his surroundings. When we had risen from the table he led me aside and
directed my attention to a short, stout man with a bristly growth of
close-cropped black hair, a low forehead and shaggy eyebrows, who was
leaning lazily against the railing of the stairway.

"Let us avoid him," he whispered. "I do not like his looks."

What can this mean? I asked myself, as we all proceeded to the deck.
Perhaps he was the man the detective was looking for.

It was a beautiful sunlit afternoon, and the vessel rode steadily in a
sea that was growing quiet under the dying impulse that the winds had
left behind them. We drew our chairs together on the deck near the stern
of the vessel, and had settled down for a quiet chat among ourselves
when we were unexpectedly joined by Mr. Murmurtot.

"Delighted, I'm sure!" he exclaimed, with the same inimitable drawl I
had noted on the occasion of our first meeting. I soon observed that
the artful little gentleman was master of an elaborate system of
exclamations by which he encouraged one to talk freel