"But why can you not go in and see if the Dornoch is there?" inquired
the detective.
"Because if I learned that she was about to leave the port, the
authorities would not let me sail till twenty-four hours after she had
gone."
"You need not wait till she gets ready to leave," suggested the
Frenchman.
"She might be ready to sail at the very time I arrived, and then I
should lose her. Oh, no; I prefer to take my chance at a marine league
from the shore," added the captain, shaking his head.
"Perhaps I might go into Hamilton harbor and obtain the information you
need," suggested Mr. Gilfleur, looking very earnest, as though he was
thinking of something.
"You!" exclaimed Captain Chantor, looking at him with amazement. "How
could you go in without going in the ship?"
"You know that I have a boat on deck," replied the detective quietly.
"But you are not a sailor, sir."
"No, I am not a sailor; but I am a boatman. After I had worked up the
biggest case in all my life in Paris,--one that required me to go to
London seven times,--I was sick when the bank-robbers were convicted,
and the excitement was over. The doctors ordered me to spend the winter
in Martinique, and I went to the Bermudas in an English steamer, where I
was to take another for my destination; but I liked the islands so well
that I remained there all the winter.
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