“You don’t mean it!” exclaimed the surgeon.
“And what’s still more,” continued the captain, “my quartermaster found a hammer in Black’s bunk, that the carpenter says was stolen at supper time of the evening we anchored—just a few minutes before the coil was ruined. The hammer was lying, with nails like these, on the carpenter’s work at the foot of the stairs leading to the mess-table. Furthermore, Black and Harper had words, and Black threatened to fix Harper for reporting him to me. The thing leads to Black as straight as a string. But there’s one weak link in the chain of evidence: Black was asleep at the time this was done.”
“When did you say it happened?”
“At seven o’clock in the evening, just as we were coming to anchor.”’
The surgeon was silent a moment, lost in thought. Then suddenly he spoke. “I remember it all very well. We were, as you say, just coming to anchor. I recall it because I had been sent for to look after one of the sailors who had crushed a finger while working with the anchor-chain. I remember distinctly that the first thing I heard, when I put my head out of the companionway, was the ship’s bell. It was exactly seven o’clock.”
“That’s exactly the instant Henry was scampering up the ladder to me,” said the captain.
