astened from me
after my capture, and he and Petrak set to work carrying the sacks of
gold into the cleft in the cliff.

"It looked bad for me a while back, Mr. Trenholm," said Thirkle, sitting
beside me and offering a cigar, which I took. "I wasn't quite sure that I
could get myself out of that tangle."

"You had a pretty good argument," I commented, lighting the cigar,
although my head throbbed so painfully that I knew I would not enjoy the
smoke. "I'm afraid I won't be able to have any plan to help you get away
with the gold and so earn my own life."

"My dear Mr. Trenholm, I'm sorry you didn't go down in the _Kut Sang_.
Really I am, for you know I took quite a fancy to you in Manila. You
are of such an unsuspicious nature."

"Oh, I had my suspicions well enough, but they were on the wrong track;
in fact, I could not have done you justice--my imagination is not equal
to it. The best I could do for you was to mistake you for a spy--an
inadequate estimate, after what I have seen and heard of you."

"You flatter me, my dear Mr. Trenholm. But it is entirely your own fault
that you are where you are. I tried to warn you, but you couldn't expect
me to tell you my plans regarding the _Kut Sang_. I didn't want you in
her, and I did my best to keep you out. Really remarkable, in a way."

"What do you mean?"

"That you should happen to be a passenger--such an insistent
passenger--and as if you knew nothing about what was going in the ship.
Really, you and Trego did well."

"I think Trego made rather a mess of it," I said. "If I had been in his
boots I would have told the captain what it was all about."

"Why didn't you tell him? You could have told him about the gold as well
as Mr. Trego."

"Indeed! Then, you believe I knew about the _Kut Sang's_ cargo."

"I don't believe it, my dear Mr. Trenholm. I never accept a theory as a
fact. There was a time when I thought your connection with the affair
ended when you brought the orders from Saigon, but your persistence in
pretending to buy a ticket in the _Kut Sang_ rather puzzled me for a
time, and then I was afraid that you suspected me, and that I had gone
too far in trying to keep you out of the vessel."

"You are talking enigmas now."

"But what surprised me most," he resumed, disregarding my remark, "was
that I purchased a ticket in the _Kut Sang_ at all. I looked for a trap
there, and if the game hadn't been so big I might have quit at the last
minute."

"I am