relative to the _Black Venus_ and the _Vestale_, how evasive
were his replies!"

"Look here, Hawkesley; you have interested me in spite of myself," said
Mr Austin. "If you are not too tired I should like you to tell me the
whole history of these singular suspicions of yours from the very moment
of their birth."

"I will, sir, with pleasure. They arose with Monsieur Le Breton's visit
to us on the occasion of our first falling in with the _Vestale_," I
replied. And then having at last finally broached the subject which had
been for so long a secret source of mental disquiet to me, I fully
detailed to the first luff all those suspicious circumstances--trifling
in themselves but important when regarded collectively--which I have
already confided to the reader. When I had finished he remained silent
for a long time, nearly a quarter of an hour I should think, with his
hands clasped behind his back and his eyes bent on the deck, evidently
cogitating deeply. Finally he emerged from his abstraction with a
start, cast an eye aloft at the sails, and then turning to me said:

"You have given me something to think about now with a vengeance,
Hawkesley. If indeed your suspicions as to the honesty of the _Vestale_
should prove well-founded, your mention of them and the acute perception
which caused you in the first instance to entertain them will constitute
a very valuable service--for which I will take care that you get full
credit--and may very possibly lead to the final detection and
suppression of a series of hitherto utterly unaccountable transactions
of a most nefarious character. At all events we can do no harm by
keeping a wary eye upon this alleged _Vestale_ for the future, and I
will make it my business to invent some plausible pretext for boarding
her on the first opportunity which presents itself. And now I think you
have been on deck quite as long as is good for you, so away you go below
again and get back to your hammock. Such a wound as yours is not to be
trifled with in this abominable climate; and you know,"--with a smile
half good-humoured and half satirical--"we must take every possible care
of a young gentleman who seems destined to teach us, from the captain
downwards, our business. There, now, don't look hurt, my lad; you did
quite right in speaking to me, and I am very much obliged to you for so
doing; I only regret that you did not earlier make me your confidant.
Now away you go below at once."