He wanted to hear more, and as Billy
was not handicapped by any overly refined notions of the
ethics which frown upon eavesdropping he lost no time in
transferring the scene of his labors to a point sufficiently close
to one of the cabin ports to permit him to note what took
place within.
What the mucker beard of that conversation made him
prick up his ears. He saw that something after his own heart
was doing--something crooked, and he wondered that so
pusillanimous a thing as Divine could have a hand in it. It
almost changed his estimate of the passenger of the Halfmoon.
The meeting broke up so suddenly that Billy had to drop
to his knees to escape the observation of those within the
cabin. As it was, Theriere, who had started to leave a second
before the others, caught a fleeting glimpse of a face that
quickly had been withdrawn from the cabin skylight as
though its owner were fearful of detection.
Without a word to his companions the Frenchman left the
cabin, but once outside he bounded up the companionway to
the deck with the speed of a squirrel. Nor was he an instant
too soon, for as he emerged from below he saw the figure of
a man disappearing forward.
"Hey there, you!" he cried. "Come back here.
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