“No, I am sure that she is not here; but I believe, for all that, that Miss Greendale must have been taken on board a yacht.  They never would have dared to land her in Cowes.  Of course, I made inquiries as a matter of form at the landing places, but as she knew the way to Dr. Maddison’s, and as the streets were full of people at the time she landed, they could never have attempted to use violence, especially as she had her maid with her.  On the other hand, it would have been comparatively easy to manage it in the case of a yacht.  They had but to row alongside, to seize and gag them before they had time to utter a cry, and then to carry them below.  The Phantom is not here—­at any rate, was not here this afternoon, but there is no reason why Carthew should not have chartered a yacht for the purpose.  Ask the skipper to come aft.”

“Captain,” he said, when Hawkins came aft, “what men went ashore this afternoon?”

“Harris and Williams and Marvel, sir.  They went ashore in the dinghy, and Harris went to the doctor’s for that medicine.”

“Ask them to come here.”

“Did anyone speak to you, Harris,” he went on, as the three men came aft, “while you were ashore today?—­I mean anyone that you did not know.”

“No, sir,” the man said, promptly.  “Leastwise, the only chap that spoke to me was a gent as was standing on the steps by the watch house as I went down to the boat, and he only says to me, ’I noticed you go in to Dr. Maddison’s, my man.  There is nothing the matter with my friend, Major Mallett, I hope.’

“‘No, sir,’ says I, ’he is all right.  I was just getting a bottle of medicine for an old lady on board.’

“That was all that passed between us.”

“Thank you, Harris.  That is just what I wanted to know.”

After the men had gone forward again, he said to the captain: 

“I have a strong conviction, Hawkins, indeed I am almost certain, that Miss Greendale has been carried off to one of the yachts here, but whether it is a large one or a small one I have not the slightest idea.  The question is, what is to be done?  It is past eleven now, and it is impossible to go round the fleet and make enquiries.  Besides, the craft may have made off already.  They would have been sure to have placed her in the outside tier, so as to get up anchor as soon as they had Miss Greendale on board.”

“We might get out the boats, sir, and lie off and see if any yachts set sail,” the skipper suggested.

“That would be of no use, Hawkins.  You could not stop them.  Even if you hailed to know what yacht it was, they might give you a false name.

“One thing I have been thinking of that can be done.  I wish, in the first place, that you would ask all the men if anyone has noticed among the yacht sailors in the streets one with the name of the Phantom on his jersey.  Some of them may have been paid off, for she has not been raced since Ryde.  In any case, I want two of the men to go ashore, the first thing in the morning, and hang about all day, if necessary, in hopes of finding one of the Phantom’s crew.  If they do find one, bring him off at once, and tell him that he will be well paid for his trouble.