ad been Corvet, and
Corvet alone, of whom Luke had spoken; it was Corvet whom he had
accused; it was Corvet who had given him money. Was it conceivable,
then, that there had been two such events in Corvet's life? That one
of these events concerned the _Miwaka_ and Spearman and some one--some
one "with a bullet hole above his eye"--who had "got" Corvet; and that
the other event had concerned Luke and something else? It was not
conceivable, Alan was sure; it was all one thing. If Corvet had had to
do with the _Miwaka_, then Luke had had to do with it too. And
Spearman? But if Spearman had been involved in that guilty thing, had
not Luke known it? Then why had not Luke mentioned Spearman? Or had
Spearman not been really involved? Had it been, perhaps, only evidence
of knowledge of what Corvet had done that Spearman had tried to
discover and destroy?

Alan went to the door and opened it, as he heard Spearman upon the
steps again. Spearman waited only until the door had been reclosed
behind him.

"Well, Conrad, what was the idea of bringing Miss Sherrill into this?"

"I didn't bring her in; I tried the best I could to keep her out."

"Out of what--exactly?"

"You know better than I do. You know exactly what it is. You know
that man, Spearman; you know what he came here for. I don't mean
money; I mean you know why he came here for money, and why he got it.
I tried, as well as I could, to make him tell me; but he wouldn't do
it. There's disgrace of some sort here, of course--disgrace that
involves my father and, I think, you too. If you're not guilty with my
father, you'll help me now; if you are guilty, then, at least, your
refusal to help will let me know that."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why did you come back here? You came back here to protect
yourself in some way."

"I came back, you young fool, to say something to you which I didn't
want Miss Sherrill to hear. I didn't know, when I took her away, how
completely you'd taken her into--your father's affairs. I told you
this man may have been a wheelsman on the Corvet; I don't know more
about him than that; I don't even know that certainly. Of course, I
knew Ben Corvet was paying blackmail; I've known for years that he was
giving up money to some one. I don't know who he paid it to; or for
what."

The strain of the last few hours was telling upon Alan; his skin
flushed hot and cold by turns. He paced up and down while h