‘The young man stated then that he had been told a long and complicated story of engine troubles. But it was plausible enough from a strictly professional point of view and it had the usual features: disablement, dangerous drifting along the shore, weather more or less thick for days, fear of a gale, ultimately a resolve to go in and anchor anywhere on the coast, and so on. Fairly plausible.
‘“Engines still disabled?” inquired the commanding officer.
‘“No, sir. She has steam on them.”
‘The commanding officer took his second aside. “By Jove!” he said, “you were right! They were holding their breaths as we passed them. They were.”
‘But the second in command had his doubts now.
‘“A fog like this does muffle small sounds, sir,” he remarked. “And what could his object be, after all?”
‘“To sneak out unnoticed,” answered the commanding officer.
‘“Then why didn’t he? He might have done it, you know. Not exactly unnoticed, perhaps. I don’t suppose he could have slipped his cable without making some noise. Still, in a minute or so he would have been lost to view — clean gone before we had made him out fairly. Yet he didn’t.”
‘They looked at each other. The commanding officer shook his head. Such suspicions as the one which had entered his head are not defended easily. He did not even state it openly. The boarding officer finished his report. The cargo of the ship was of a harmless and useful character. She was bound to an English port. Papers and everything in perfect order. Nothing suspicious to be detected anywhere.
‘Then passing to the men, he reported the crew on deck as the usual lot. Engineers of the well-known type, and very full of their achievement in repairing the engines. The mate surly. The master rather a fine specimen of a Northman, civil enough, but appeared to have been drinking. Seemed to be recovering from a regular bout of it.
‘“I told him I couldn’t give him permission to proceed. He said he wouldn’t dare to move his ship her own length out in such weather as this, permission or no permission. I left a man on board, though.”
‘“Quite right.”
‘The commanding officer, after communing with his suspicions for a time, called his second aside.
‘“What if she were the very ship which had been feeding some infernal submarine or other?” he said in an undertone.
‘The other started. Then, with conviction:
‘“She would get off scot-free. You couldn’t prove it, sir.”
‘“I want to look into it myself.”
