afterward, was I mistaken
in the belief.

I was vaguely aware that the spectators were being ordered from the
salon. Captain Cecchi's eyes were dark stilettos; the gaze of the
Englishman was like a narrow flash of blue steel. He was going to say
something. I waited apathetically. Then the words came, falling like
icicles in the deadness of the hush.

"If you wish, sir," he stated, "to explain why you are traveling with
cipher papers, Captain Cecchi and I will hear what you have to say."

CHAPTER VIII

WHAT A THIEF CAN DO

In sheer desperation I achieved a ghastly levity of demeanor.

"Please don't shoot me yet," I managed to request. "And if I sit down
and think for a moment, don't take it for a confession. Any innocent man
would be shocked dumb temporarily if his traps gave up such loot."

I sat down in dizzy fashion, my judges watching me. Through my mind, in
a mad phantasmagoria, danced the series of events that had begun in the
St. Ives restaurant and was ending so dramatically in the salon of this
ship. Or perhaps the end had not yet arrived, I thought ironically. By
a slight effort of imagination I could conjure up a scene of the sort
rendered familiar by countless movie dramas--a lowering fortress wall,
myself standing against it, scornfully waving away a bandage, and drawn
up before me a highly efficient firing-squad.

To all intents and purposes I was a spy, caught red-handed; but with due
respect for circumstantial evidence, I did not mean to remain one long.
That part of it was too absurd. There must be a dozen ways out of it.
Come! The fact that so strange an experience had befallen me in a New
York hotel on the eve of my sailing could not be pure coincidence. There
lay the clue to the mystery. Let me work it out.

And then, as my wits began groping, comprehension came to me--a sudden
comprehension that left me stunned and dazed: The open trunk, the thief,
the descent by the fire-escape, the girl's calm denial, turning us from
the suspected floor. Yes, the girl! Heavens, what a blind dolt I had
been! No wonder that Van Blarcom had felt moved to say a helping word
for me, as for a congenital idiot not responsible for his acts!

"When you are ready--" the lieutenant was remarking. I pulled myself
together as hastily as I could.

"First," I began, with all the resolution I could muster, "I want to
say that I am as much at a loss as you are about this thing. I never set
eyes upon those papers u