lliard's suspicions. Surely, he thought,
there must be something if the sight of a stranger upsets all these
people in this way.

But he had not time to ponder the problem. The captain instantly
recovered himself, pulled off his cap to Miss Coburn and shook hands all
round, Mr. Coburn introducing the visitors.

"Good trip, captain?" the manager went on. "You're ahead of schedule."

"Not so bad," the newcomer admitted in a voice and manner singularly
cultivated for a man in his position. "We had a good wind behind us most
of the way."

They chatted for a few moments, then started on their tour of
inspection. Though Hilliard was once again keenly on the alert, the
examination, so far as he could see, left nothing to be desired. They
visited every part of the vessel, from the forecastle storerooms to the
tunnel of the screw shaft, and from the chart-house to the bottom of
the hold, and every question either of the friends asked was replied to
fully and without hesitation.

That evening, like the preceding, they passed with the Coburns. The
captain and the engineer--a short, thick-set man named Bulla--strolled
up with them and remained for dinner, but left shortly afterwards on the
plea of matters to attend to on board. The friends stayed on, playing
bridge, and it was late when they said good-night and set out to walk
back to the launch.

During the intervals of play Hilliard's mind had been busy with the
mystery which he believed existed in connection with the syndicate, and
he had decided that to try to satisfy his curiosity he would go down to
the wharf that night and see if any INTERESTING operations went on
under cover of darkness. The idea of a midnight loading of contraband no
longer appealed to his imagination, but vaguely he wished to make sure
that no secret activities were in progress.

He was at least certain that none had taken place up to the
present--that Mr. Coburn was personally concerned in, at all events.
From the moment they had first sighted the ship until they had left
the manager's house at the conclusion of the game of bridge, not five
minutes ago, he had been in Mr. Coburn's company. Next day it was
understood they were to meet again, so that if the manager wished to
carry out any secret operations they could only be done during the
night.

Accordingly when they reached the launch he turned to Merriman.

"You go ahead, old man. I'm going to have a look round before turning
in. Don't wai