“What do you mean?”

“That you should happen to be a passenger—­such an insistent passenger—­and as if you knew nothing about what was going in the ship.  Really, you and Trego did well.”

“I think Trego made rather a mess of it,” I said.  “If I had been in his boots I would have told the captain what it was all about.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?  You could have told him about the gold as well as Mr. Trego.”

“Indeed!  Then, you believe I knew about the Kut Sang’s cargo.”

“I don’t believe it, my dear Mr. Trenholm.  I never accept a theory as a fact.  There was a time when I thought your connection with the affair ended when you brought the orders from Saigon, but your persistence in pretending to buy a ticket in the Kut Sang rather puzzled me for a time, and then I was afraid that you suspected me, and that I had gone too far in trying to keep you out of the vessel.”

“You are talking enigmas now.”

“But what surprised me most,” he resumed, disregarding my remark, “was that I purchased a ticket in the Kut Sang at all.  I looked for a trap there, and if the game hadn’t been so big I might have quit at the last minute.”

“I am sure I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“My dear Mr. Trenholm!  Really, your attitude offends me.  I cannot see what you expect to gain by pretending you knew nothing about the gold in the Kut Sang.  That is absurd.  You brought the order for it from Saigon, and helped get the thing fixed, and yet you pretend that it is all a mystery to you.  When I am willing to be so frank I cannot see why you should assume this manner.”

“Then, I knew all about the gold from the first, did I?”

“Certainly.  What do you think Mr. Petrak and I kept so close at your heels for in Manila?”

“Well, it did rather puzzle me for a while.  Everywhere I turned you or the little red-headed rascal seemed to be near.”

“And never seemed to remember having seen us in Saigon?”

“In Saigon?  Were you in Saigon when I was there?”

“Left before you did, when we knew you had the order for the gold from Commander Kousmitch.”

“Never met the gentleman.”

“Of course not.  He got the cable-operator to have you deliver the order in Manila for him.  But I heard him and the cable-operator talk it over, and that was all I wanted, and left.  So you didn’t see us in Saigon?  I told Petrak you didn’t, but he thought you did.  That’s one reason we got so bold in Manila.”

“But the cable-operator told me the message didn’t amount to much, and that he would send duplicates by mail, anyway.”

“Of course he did.  It didn’t amount to much, except to give a code order about shipping this gold.  And you dropped it in the bus, and I picked it up, and you were rather rude to me, which proved that you either had no suspicions about me, or knew it all and wanted to throw me off my guard.  I believe you were actually laughing at me the last few hours in Manila.  I couldn’t understand, unless you had things rigged to trip me the minute we sailed.