I am by no means so sure that my
curiosity will ever be gratified.

In my opinion this enigmatical personage has an all important reason
for hiding his origin, and I am afraid there is no indication by which
I can gauge his nationality. If the Count d'Artigas speaks English
fluently--and I was able to assure myself of that fact during his
visit to Pavilion No. 17,--he pronounces it with a harsh, vibrating
accent, which is not to be found among the peoples of northern
latitudes. I do not remember ever to have heard anything like it in
the course of my travels either in the Old or New World--unless it
be the harshness characteristic of the idioms in use among the Malays.
And, in truth, with his olive, verging on copper-tinted skin, his
jet-black, crinkly hair, his piercing, deep-set, restless eyes, his
square shoulders and marked muscular development, it is by no means
unlikely that he belongs to one of the extreme Eastern races.

I believe this name of d'Artigas is an assumed one, and his title of
Count likewise. If his schooner bears a Norwegian name, he at any rate
is not of Scandinavian origin. He has nothing of the races of Northern
Europe about him.

But whoever and whatever he may be, this man abducted Thomas Roch--and
me with him--with no good intention, I'll be bound.

But what I should like to know is, has he acted as the agent of a
foreign power, or on his own account? Does he wish to profit alone by
Thomas Roch's invention, and is he in the position to dispose of it
profitably? That is another question that I cannot yet answer. Maybe
I shall be able to find out from what I hear and see ere I make my
escape, if escape be possible.

The _Ebba_ continues on her way in the same mysterious manner. I am
free to walk about the deck, without, however, being able to go beyond
the fore hatchway. Once I attempted to go as far as the bows where I
could, by leaning over, perceive the schooner's stem as it cut through
the water, but acting, it was plain, on orders received, the watch
on deck turned me back, and one of them, addressing me brusquely in
harsh, grating English, said:

"Go back! Go back! You are interfering with the working of the ship!"

With the working of the ship! There was no working.

Did they realize that I was trying to discover by what means the
schooner was propelled? Very likely, and Captain Spade, who had looked
on, must have known it, too. Even a hospital attendant could not fail
to be ast