ide of the passage or the other?

"Miss Norman?" he called.

"Yes?" came almost instantly from the cabin aft.

"This is Captain Dennison. I'm tied up and lying on the bed. Can you hear
me distinctly?"

"Yes. Your father has made a prisoner of you? Of all the inhuman acts! You
came in search of me?"

"Naturally. Have you those infernal beads?"

"No."

Dennison twisted about until he had his shoulders against the brass rail
of the bed head.

"What happened?"

"It was a trick. It was not to talk about you--he wanted the beads, and
that made me furious."

"Were you hurt in the struggle?"

"There wasn't any. I really don't know what possessed me. Perhaps I was a
bit hypnotized. Perhaps I was curious. Perhaps I wanted--some excitement.
On my word, I don't know just what happened. Anyhow, here I am--in a
dinner gown, bound for Hong-Kong, so he says. He offered me ten thousand
for the beads, and my freedom, if I would promise not to report his
high-handedness; and I haven't uttered a sound."

"Heaven on earth, why didn't you accept his offer?"

A moment of silence.

"In the first place, I haven't the beads. In the second place, I want to
make him all the trouble I possibly can. Now that he has me, he doesn't
know what to do with me. Hoist by his own petard. Do you want the truth?
Well, I'm not worried in the least. I feel as if I'd been invited to some
splendiferous picnic."

"That's foolish," he remonstrated.

"Of course it is. But it's the sort of foolishness I've been aching for
all my life. I knew something was going to happen. I broke my hand mirror
night before last. Two times seven years' bad luck. Now he has me, I'll
wager he's half frightened out of his wits. But what made you think of the
yacht?"

"We forced the door of your room, and I found the note. Has he told you
what makes those infernal beads so precious?"

"No. I can't figure that out."

"No more can I. Did he threaten you?"

"Yes. Would I enter the launch peacefully, or would he have to carry me? I
didn't want my gown spoiled--it's the only decent one I have. I'm not
afraid. It isn't as though he were a stranger. Being your father, he would
never stoop to any indignity. But he'll find he has caught a tartar. I
had an idea you'd find me."

"Well, I have. But you won't get to Hong-Kong. The minute he liberates me
I'll sneak into the wireless room and bring the destroyers. I didn't
notify the police from a bit of foolish sentiment. I