prison.

"He was on the verge of starvation, and I gave him some money from my
charity fund, which he promptly spent on drink, for he is quite
dissolute. But he took charge of my luggage and attended to some errands
for me, but he fears the police and cannot get out of his habit of
skulking about, and, as the detectives have hounded him, he is suspicious
of everybody, and ready to go into a panic when a stranger approaches
him. It is a pity that he cannot get back to sea, but he has had the
fever, and no master seems to want him, and he has been forced into
vagabondage."

He gave me this history of the little red-headed man in disconnected
sentences while we were at the soup, and I let him run on. As he talked
his eyes were roaming over the room, and he scanned every person that
entered, and peered at me from under his brows when he thought I was not
observing him.

It was plausible enough, but I could not forget that Meeker and the
little sailor were together a great deal, and whenever I had seen them
they were acting suspiciously, and both of them had kept close watch upon
me. Neither had he explained away the fact that he had told me I could
not buy a ticket in the _Kut Sang_, which I did; nor the fact that he had
his own ticket when he told me that, nor the false telephone message for
the obvious purpose of making me miss the steamer, and then his getting
in my way when I was in pursuit of Petrak, or "Dago Red," as he called
him.

It seemed beyond reason that this chain of events could be nothing but a
combination of coincidences, and, when I analyzed the situation, I framed
what I considered a good theory regarding Petrak's presence outside my
door. It occurred to me that Meeker was the author of the false message,
and that he was really on his way to visit me to learn if I had
discovered the falsity of it when he met me rushing down the stairs. But
he had sent Petrak ahead of him to listen at the door in case I
telephoned the company to verify the first message; Petrak had heard
me ask the company for the sailing time and was about to report to Meeker
when I opened the door upon him.

Meeker was probably at the foot of the stairs and covered the retreat of
his henchman. Petrak may not have been able to stop and report what he
had heard, so Meeker fished for the information from me, ready to confirm
the report that the sailing of the vessel was delayed, or pretend that he
was about to set me right.

Upon my