of Code that don't look right to me,
and we may as well settle the whole business once and for all while we
are here together. Now, Mr. Durkee," she said, turning to the
detective, "would you mind telling me what the charge is against
Captain Schofield?"

"To tell you the truth, ma'am," said he respectfully, "there are two
charges out against him. One, by the insurance company, sues for
recovery of money paid on the schooner _May Schofield_, and charges
that the said schooner was sunk intentionally, first because Schofield
wanted a newer boat, and second because the policy of the _May_ was to
expire in a few days and could not have been renewed except at a much
advanced rate."

"And the other charge?"

"Is for murder in the first degree, growing out of the intentional
sinking of the schooner. Captain Burns is the complainant."

"Thank you." She flashed one of her radiant smiles at him and made him
a friend for life.

"That was a great race to-day," she remarked irrelevantly, but with
enthusiasm. "How much did you beat the _Nettie B._, Code?"

"A half an hour," he replied, mystified at the turn of the conversation.

"Well, that _is_ a coincidence." She looked from one to the other.
"It's exactly the same amount of time he beat you seven months ago
when he raced the old _May_ against the _M. C. Burns_, isn't it?" Her
glance shot to Nat.

"Why, I believe it is, Mrs. Mallaby," he stammered. The quick
transition to that painful and dangerous period had caught him off his
guard.

"That was a great race, too," she said cheerfully, "and it's too bad
you never sailed the second one. Especially after you wanted to bet so
much. You thought you would win the second race, didn't you, Nat?" She
was sweetness itself.

"Why, yes, I thought so," he admitted guardedly. "But I don't see what
all this has got to do--"

"Well, it hasn't very much," she said deprecatingly, "but I was just
interested. What made you so sure you would win that second race that
you tried to bet?"

"Oh, I don't know," he answered easily. "I just had confidence--"

"In what, Nat Burns? Your schooner had easily been beaten the first
time and she was notoriously slower than the _May_. Every one in the
island knows that you can't sail a vessel like Code Schofield can, and
that you are afraid to carry sail. To-day proved it. Anybody with half
an eye could see that that stays'l was cut with a knife and didn't
blow off. All these things being so, what