“Hasn’t been home all night,” panted Mrs. Kingdom, joining them.  “I don’t know what to think.”

They formed an excited little group round the steward’s door, and Mr. Wilks, with an instinctive feeling that the matter was one to be discussed in private, led the way indoors.  He began to apologize for the disordered condition of the room, but Jack Nugent, interrupting him brusquely, began to relate his own adventures of the past few hours.

Mrs. Kingdom listened to the narrative with unexpected calmness.  She knew the cause of her nephew’s discomfiture.  It was the glass of whisky acting on a system unaccustomed to alcohol, and she gave a vivid and moving account of the effects of a stiff glass of hot rum which she had once taken for a cold.  It was quite clear to her that the captain had put his son to bed; the thing to discover now was where he had put himself.

“Sam knows something about it,” said her nephew, darkly; “there’s something wrong.”

“I know no more than a babe unborn,” declared Mr. Wilks.  “The last I see of the cap’n ’e was a-sitting at this table opposite you.”

“Sam wouldn’t hurt a fly,” said Miss Nugent, with a kind glance at her favourite.

“Well, where is the governor, then?” inquired her brother.  “Why didn’t he go home last night?  He has never stayed out before.”

“Yes, he has,” said Mrs. Kingdom, folding her hands in her lap.  “When you were children.  He came home at half-past eleven next morning, and when I asked him where he’d been he nearly bit my head off.  I’d been walking the floor all night, and I shall never forget his remarks when he opened the door to the police, who’d come to say they couldn’t find him.  Never.”

A ghostly grin flitted across the features of Mr. Wilks, but he passed the back of his hand across his mouth and became serious again as he thought of his position.  He was almost dancing with anxiety to get away to Mr. Nathan Smith and ask for an explanation of the proceedings of the night before.

“I’ll go and have a look round for the cap’n,” he said, eagerly; “he can’t be far.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Nugent.  “I should like to see him too.  There are one or two little things that want explaining.  You take aunt home, Kate, and I’ll follow on as soon as there is any news.”

As he spoke the door opened a little way and a head appeared, only to be instantly withdrawn at the sight of so many people.  Mr. Wilks stepped forward hastily, and throwing the door wide open revealed the interesting features of Mr. Nathan Smith.

“How do you do, Mr. Wilks?” said that gentleman, softly.  “I just walked round to see whether you was in.  I’ve got a message for you.  I didn’t know you’d got company.”

He stepped into the room and, tapping the steward on the chest with a confidential finger, backed him into a corner, and having got him there gave an expressive wink with one eye and gazed into space with the other.