"Speak louder; I cannot hear." Dick did so, but the other did not seem to understand. "In two or three days. You have one lighter." "We have. I want to know if the tug----" "The damage is not serious," the other broke in. "Then I'm to understand she's back in port?" A broken murmur answered, but by and by Dick caught the words, "Not longer than two days." Then he rang off, and pushing Jake's chair out of the way, shut the door. "It's plain that they don't mean to tell me what I want to know," he remarked. "The first man might have told the truth, if they had let him, but somebody pulled him away. My opinion is that the tug's not at Adexe and didn't go there." They went back to the hotel, and Dick sat down on a bench in the patio and lighted his pipe. "There's something very curious about the matter," he said. "When the tug left us she seemed to be heading farther off shore than was necessary," Jake agreed. "Still, the broken water wouldn't matter so much when she had the wind astern." "Her skipper wouldn't run off his course and lengthen the distance because the wind was fair." "No, I don't suppose he would." "Well," said Dick, "my impression is that he didn't mean to start at all, and wouldn't have done so if I hadn't turned him out." Jake laughed. "After all, there's no use in making a mystery out of nothing. The people offered us the coal, and you don't suspect a dark plot to stop the works. What would they gain by that?" "Nothing that I can see. I don't think they meant to stop the works; but they wanted the coal. It's not at Adexe, and there's no other port the tug could reach. Where has it gone?" "It doesn't seem to matter, so long as we get a supply before our stock runs out." "Try to look at the thing as I do," Dick insisted with a frown. "I forced the skipper to go to sea, and as soon as he had a good excuse his tow-rope parted, besides which the last barge went adrift from the rest. Her hawser, however, wasn't broken. It was slipped from the craft she was made fast to. Then, though the tug's engines were out of order, she steamed to leeward very fast and, I firmly believe, hasn't gone back to Adexe." "I expect there's a very simple explanation," Jake replied. "The truth is you have a rather senseless suspicion of Kenwardine." "I'll own I don't trust him," Dick answered quietly. Jake made an impatient gesture. "Let's see if we can get breakfast, because I'm going to his house afterwards." "They won't have got up yet." "It's curious that you don't know more about their habits after living there. Miss Kenwardine goes out with Lucille before the sun gets hot, and her father's about as early as you are." "What does he do in the morning?" "I haven't inquired, but I've found him in the room he calls his office. You're misled by the idea that his occupation is gambling."