Most of the hulks are moored in the creek within sight of Hole Haven, where the principal inn of the island is situated, and all these we were soon able to dismiss from our calculation. But there was one hulk, the “Cuban Queen,” lying, not in the shelter of the creek, but in a much more lonely spot directly off Canvey, in regard to which I was not able to come to a conclusion. It lay in deeper water, nearly a mile out, and no one seemed to know much about the man in charge except that he was named Hughes and was married. He very rarely came on shore, but when he did so, returned immediately to his ship without speaking to anybody, and it was generally believed on the island that he often had his wife with him. That he _had_ some one,--wife or otherwise,--on board I soon satisfied myself, and that by very simple means. The man whose duty it was to wait upon the hulk-keepers was, I found, a methodical sort of fellow and kept a memorandum book in which he wrote down the different articles he was instructed to obtain. This book Quickly managed to get hold of for me, and on looking over it I saw that from a certain time,--dating some months back,--the supply of provisions ordered by Hughes had doubled in quantity. This might, of course, be due to the fact that his wife was on board; and, indeed, Quickly reported that the hulk attendant had remarked to him, “Hughes have got his old woman on the ‘Cuban Queen.’ I see her a-rowing about one night in the dinghy.” But I had made another and much more significant discovery when looking over the book,--a discovery which the presence of Hughes’ wife did not altogether explain. This was _that not only had the quantity of food supplied to Hughes been largely increased, but that the quality too was vastly superior_. The man in attendance on the hulk had probably failed to notice this fact, and I did not deem it advisable to arouse his suspicion by making further inquiries. But I at once decided that before I put against the name of the “Cuban Queen” the little tick which signified that I might henceforth dismiss it from consideration, I should have to make the personal acquaintance of “Mrs. Hughes.” CHAPTER IX I TAKE UP MY QUARTERS AT CANVEY