e got that Lascar quartermaster
who we had for lampman, didn't they? That's two men gone, ain't it?

"Look a here. The police come aboard lookin' for a little red-headed
sailor they said done the killin', and I told 'em they was dreamin'; but
they said the lampman, who they took for the murder, blamed it on a
little red-headed sailor. I just told 'em I guessed the lampman was their
man, and they said a parson told 'em he done the killin', but they wanted
to find this little red-headed sailor 'cause he had some hand in it, so
some witnesses said.

"See what I'm drivin' at? I didn't know about no red-headed man, and I
didn't want to. We had to get out of Manila, and I didn't want to be
monkeyin' around with no courts nor judges, and I let the police have
their own say, and agreed with 'em when I saw a chance to keep clear, and
disagreed when I saw it would delay us to get tangled up in the killin'
of the bos'n."

"Well, I don't see what all that has got to do with this," said Captain
Riggs.

"Ye don't? Look a here! One of our men cut up; a red-headed little sailor
has a hand in it of some sort; a parson tells the police our lampman done
it, and thar goes another of our hands. Who do we git in their place? A
parson for a passenger and two men of his own he brings aboard. Looks
like he made room for 'em, cap'n."

"You've been reading books," said Captain Riggs. "What I need is a mate,
not a detective. But go on, Mr. Harris--maybe ye're right--I'm getting
old and trustful."

"That ain't my main p'int, either," continued Harris. "What I mean is
this--come to think it over, the lampman didn't leave the ship's side
until after the Greek was cut up ashore. It was the parson who put the
police on to the lampman."

"This same parson, Mr. Harris? Ye ain't sure about that?"

"Oh, shucks! Think thar's fourteen thousand parsons runnin' around Manila
with a red-headed sailor that's too handy by far with a knife? Ain't I
got brains in my head? He had to make room for his pals aboard here,
didn't he? It's plain as Cape Cod Light to me, cap'n."

"Well, what does it all mean? You suppose this is what they want?"

"Ye don't guess they killed the bos'n and this Trego just for friendship
sake, do ye? If ye want to know what my personal, private feelings are,
it looks like we've been boarded by the Devil's Admiral."

"Sally Ann's black cat!" said Riggs. "That story was started by some
sea-lawyer full of gin, and the newspapers too