d your help, Roy.

"Besides there was you, yourself, to be taken care of. You were one of
my worries, not a big worry, but still a worry. What if you forgot
your pride? What if Mary forgot her pride? Of course, you were in
Bellingham, and outward bound; and she was home in Freeport--but who
can tell what a woman will do where her heart is concerned? Besides, I
hated you, damn you! I was not going to overlook the luck that brought
the three of us into the same port at the same time. You had been my
catspaw once; why not again?

"So I had you invite me off to dinner. That cozy little dinner, in
your own cabin, just you and I, and Stord to wait on us. I bet you
never guessed until your trial that your steward was my man, if you
guessed it then. Aye, body and soul my man. When I crooked my finger,
Stord bent his body.

"Do you remember that dinner, Roy? I bet you do! I crucified you,
damn you! You would be brave, you would be gallant, eh? You would
congratulate me upon the coming marriage, toast the best man, who had
won the race. Oh, I enjoyed your hospitality that night! How you
wrenched out the words! You didn't want to talk about Mary, did you?
But I made you talk, I made you squirm, eh? And then, when I was sick
of your platitudes--just a nod to Stord, and three little drops of
chloral in your glass!

"Do you want to know what happened next? I'll lay that you've wondered
many a time just what happened after you had so strangely dropped
asleep, with your head in your plate. Well, I'll tell you what
happened. I sent Stord on the run to Baintree's hotel. He bore a
message from you. He told the dear captain that you were ill, on your
ship, and that you wished very much to see him. You can guess how the
old fool would act in a case like that. A chance to do a good deed,
store up treasures in heaven, all that, eh? You might have been a bad
man in Freeport, but, you were sick and needed him.

"He came in a hurry, all a-flutter like an old hen. Just as I knew he
would come. And as he leaned over you, in your own cabin,
I--er--separated him from his temporal worries with an iron belaying
pin from your own rail. Then I gave you the clout for luck (it has
left a fine scar, I note) and placed the pin on the table. And thus
your chief mate discovered you when he came on board, you and your
victim, and the weapon you used, just as I planned. And your steward's
testimony, and my reluctant admissi