however, immediately recalled him to Lethbridge’s memory, and he told, as concisely as possible, the extraordinary discovery which he believed he had made. Lethbridge heard him through and then shook his head incredulously. “I’ve come across strange things in my line, Mr. Farnham,” he said, “but this is the toughest yarn I’ve ever heard yet. It can’t be, sir, it can’t be. Darke and I prodded every corner of the ship, and I tell you the man wasn’t there.”
“And I tell you that the man is in London at this moment,” said Farnham, vehemently. “Apply any test that you please, and you’ll find I’m right.”
Lethbridge pondered dubiously for a moment, and then asked Farnham to repeat to him, in their consecutive order, all the details of Captain Black’s disappearance from the steamer. This Farnham did with scrupulous exactness, Lethbridge listening attentively and
