they put me into a
cabin aft, of which I was the sole occupant; and, being ordered by the
man John, who was half-drunk and very threatening, to get below, I
turned in shortly after coming aboard, and lay down to reckon with the
strange probabilities of the hour.

One thing was very evident. Black had made a colossal mistake, from his
point of view, in setting foot in England; but the crowning blunder of
his life was that fatal act of folly by which he had sought to shield
me from the men. How long the Government had been watching for him, or
for tidings of me, I could not tell, but it must have been since
Roderick had reached New York, and had told all he knew of the ship of
mystery and of her owner.

Now the object of letting Black reach his vessel again was as clear as
daylight; it was not so much the man as his ship which they wished to
take, and, by following him to the Atlantic, they were giving him rope
to hang himself.

But were we followed? I had seen nothing to lead me to that conclusion
as I came down the Thames; and now, favoured by an intensely dark
night, we promised, if nothing should intervene, to gain the Atlantic
in two days, and to be aboard that strange citadel which was our
stronghold against the nations.

This thought troubled me very much, so much that sleep was out of the
question, and I went above again, undeterred by the probability of a
difference with the men. The night was somewhat clearer when I reached
the poop, and I could make out the fine flood of light that came from
the North Foreland; while it was evident that we had taken the outer
passage and should pass on the French side of the Goodwins. There were
no men aft as I took my stand by the second wheel, but I heard the bawl
of the watch forward, and a man who wore oilskins was pacing the
bridge. I was able, therefore, to get a good notion of all things about
us; and when the moon showed later, the Channel seemed full of ships.
Away towards the Foreland I made out a fleet of French luggers standing
in close to shore; there were two or three colliers returning to the
Thames on our port-bow, and some English smacks lying-to right ahead of
us, the moon showing them brightly in a lake of light, their men busy
at the nets, or huddled at the tiller as the smacks rolled to a choppy
sea. But there was no sign of any war-ship pursuing; no indication
whatever that the tender, then steaming at thirteen knots towards
Dover, was watched or obs