'Suppose I ask
him and then watch his face. He will betray himself in some way. It's
perfectly plain that the fellow _has_ been drinking. Yes, he has been
drinking; but he will have a lie ready all the same.' The commanding
officer was one of those men who are made morally and almost physically
uncomfortable by the mere thought of having to beat down a lie. He
shrank from the act in scorn and disgust, which were invincible because
more temperamental than moral.

"So he went out on deck instead and had the crew mustered formally for
his inspection. He found them very much what the report of the boarding
officer had led him to expect. And from their answers to his questions
he could discover no flaw in the log-book story.

"He dismissed them. His impression of them was--a picked lot; have been
promised a fistful of money each if this came off; all slightly anxious,
but not frightened. Not a single one of them likely to give the show
away. They don't feel in danger of their life. They know England and
English ways too well!

"He felt alarmed at catching himself thinking as if his vaguest
suspicions were turning into a certitude. For, indeed, there was no
shadow of reason for his inferences. There was nothing to give away.

"He returned to the chart-room. The Northman had lingered behind there;
and something subtly different in his bearing, more bold in his blue,
glassy stare, induced the commanding officer to conclude that the fellow
had snatched at the opportunity to take another swig at the bottle he
must have had concealed somewhere.

"He noticed, too, that the Northman on meeting his eyes put on an
elaborately surprised expression. At least, it seemed elaborated.
Nothing could be trusted. And the Englishman felt himself with
astonishing conviction faced by an enormous lie, solid like a wall, with
no way round to get at the truth, whose ugly murderous face he seemed to
see peeping over at him with a cynical grin.

"'I dare say,' he began, suddenly, 'you are wondering at my proceedings,
though I am not detaining you, am I? You wouldn't dare to move in this
fog?'

"'I don't know where I am,' the Northman ejaculated, earnestly. 'I
really don't.'

"He looked around as if the very chart-room fittings were strange
to him. The commanding officer asked him whether he had not seen any
unusual objects floating about while he was at sea.

"'Objects! What objects? We were groping blind in the fog for days.'

"'We had a