"It needn't be, on a black night like that. You see, the parcels are not so big--look at them, a foot by a foot and a half by six inches or so, roughly. Easily slipped under a big coat or covered up with anything. Of course they're a bit heavy--eighty or ninety pounds apiece altogether--but that's not much for a strong man to carry--especially in such a handy parcel, on a black night, with no end of confusion on. Now you just look here--I'll tell you something. The skipper went ashore last in a boat that was sent out by the coasting steamer that ran into us. That ship's put into dock for repairs and her crew are mostly having an easy time ashore. Now I haven't been asleep this last day or two, and I had a sort of notion there might be some game of this sort on, because when I left the ship that night I thought we might save a little at least of the stuff, but the skipper wouldn't let me go near the bullion-room, and that seemed odd. So I got hold of one of the boat's crew that fetched the skipper ashore, and questioned him quietly--pumped him, you know--and he assures me that the skipper _did_ have a rather small, heavy sort of parcel with him. What do you think of that? Of course, in the circumstances, the man couldn't remember any very distinct particulars, but he thought it was a sort of square wooden case about the size I've mentioned. But there's something more." Brasyer lifted his fore-finger and then brought it down on the table before him--"something more. I've made inquiries at the railway station and I find that two heavy parcels were sent off yesterday to London--deal boxes wrapped in brown paper, of just about the right size. And the paper got torn before the things were sent off, and the clerk could see that the boxes inside were fastened with hoop-iron--like those!" and the second officer pointed triumphantly to the boxes piled at one side of the cabin. "Well done!" said Hewitt. "You're quite a smart detective. Did you find out who brought the parcels, and who they were addressed to?" "No, I couldn't get quite as far as that. Of course the clerk didn't know the names of the senders, and not knowing me, wouldn't tell me exactly where the parcels were going. But I got quite chummy with him after a bit, and I'm going to meet him presently--he has the afternoon off, and we're going for a stroll. I'll find something more, I'll bet you!" "Certainly," replied Hewitt, "find all you can--it may be very important. If you get any valuable information you'll let us know at once, of course. Anything else, now?" "No, I don't think so; but I think what I've told you is pretty well enough for the present, eh? I'll let you know some more soon."