r launch at
the Pont de Neuilly is not the American who engaged you?'

'No, sir; the American was a smooth-faced man; this man wore a black
beard.'

'Yes, a false beard.'

'I did not know that, sir. I understood from the American that I was
to take but one passenger. One came aboard with a small box in his
hand; the other with a small bag. Each declared himself to be the
passenger in question. I did not know what to do, so I left Paris with
both of them on board.'

'Then the tall man with the black beard is still with you?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Well, captain, is there anything else you have to tell me? I think
you will find it better in the end to make a clean breast of it.'

The captain hesitated, turning his cap about in his hands for a few
moments, then he said,--

'I am not sure that the first passenger went overboard of his own
accord. When the police hailed us at Denouval--'

'Ah, you knew it was the police, then?'

'I was afraid after I left it might have been. You see, when the
bargain was made with me the American said that if I reached Havre at
a certain time a thousand francs extra would be paid to me, so I was
anxious to get along as quickly as I could. I told him it was
dangerous to navigate the Seine at night, but he paid me well for
attempting it. After the policeman called to us at Denouval the man
with the small box became very much excited, and asked me to put him
ashore, which I refused to do. The tall man appeared to be watching
him, never letting him get far away. When I heard the splash in the
water I ran aft, and I saw the tall man putting the box which the
other had held into his handbag, although I said nothing of it at the
time. We cruised back and forward about the spot where the other man
had gone overboard, but saw nothing more of him. Then I came on to
Meulan, intending to give information about what I had seen. That is
all I know of the matter, sir.'

'Was the man who had the jewels a Frenchman?'

'What jewels, sir?'

'The man with the small box.'

'Oh, yes, sir; he was French.'

'You have hinted that the foreigner threw him overboard. What grounds
have you for such a belief if you did not see the struggle?'

'The night is very dark, sir, and I did not see what happened. I was
at the wheel in the forward part of the launch, with my back turned to
these two. I heard a scream, then a splash. If the man had jumped
overboard as the other said he did, he would not have screamed.