it forward and put it where it belonged.

He found Turner waiting on deck, and together they descended to the
chart-room. He was none too clear as to what followed. They drank
together. Vail tried to get Turner to bed, and failed. He believed
that Burns had called the captain. The captain had ordered him to the
deck, and there had been a furious quarrel. He felt ill by that time,
and, when he went on watch at midnight, Burns was uncertain about
leaving him. He was not intoxicated, he maintained, until after
half-past one. He was able to strike the bell without difficulty, and
spoke, each time he went aft, to Charlie Jones, who was at the wheel.

After that, however, he suddenly felt strange. He thought he had been
doped, and told the helmsman so. He asked Jones to strike the bell for
him, and, going up on the forecastle head, lay down on the boards and
fell asleep. He did not waken until he heard six bells struck--three
o'clock. And, before he had fully roused, I had called him.

"Then," I said, "when the lookout saw you with the axe, you were
replacing it?"

"Yes."

"The lookout says you were not on deck between two and three o'clock."

"How does he know? I was asleep."

"You had threatened to get the captain."

"I had a revolver; I didn't need to use an axe."

Much as I disliked the man, I was inclined to believe his story,
although I thought he was keeping something back. I leaned forward.

"Singleton," I said, "if you didn't do it, and I want to think you did
not,--who did?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"We have women aboard. We ought to know what precautions to take."

"I wasn't the only man on deck that night. Burns was about, and he had
a quarrel with the Hansen woman. Jones was at the wheel, too. Why
don't you lock up Jones?"

"We are all under suspicion," I admitted. "But you had threatened the
captain."

"I never threatened the girl, or Mr. Vail."

I had no answer to this, and we both fell silent. Singleton was the
first to speak:--

"How are you going to get back? The men can sail a course, but who is
to lay it out? Turner? No Turner ever knew anything about a ship but
what it made for him."

"Turner is sick. Look here, Singleton, you want to get back as much as
we do, or more. Wouldn't you be willing to lay a course, if you were
taken out once a day? Burns is doing it, but he doesn't pretend to
know much about it, and--we have the bodies."

But he turned ug