At that I thought of Worthing who would have uncompromisingly declared that blood must atone for blood. Was that the reason, I asked myself, why my father's murder had sunk into insignificance with him? Had he come on the trail of a greater crime? Was it for that he had hunted down Abou, as he thought, promising him life if he would tell the secret of the entrance? It wasn't gold he was after; that I felt sure of. Was it justice? With these questions tumultuously buzzing in my mind I reached the _Dolphin_, wearily climbed the stairs, and opened the door of my room. Facing me as I entered was the Captain himself. Without realizing what I was doing I exclaimed: "Commander Meadows!" In a frightened whisper I added, "Of the _Tiger_." CHAPTER XXXII INTO THE MORNING I saw a smile of greeting change into a grimace of stupefied dismay. My mind went back to the morning when in the kitchen just beneath us I had blurted out, "The smugglers!" I stood horrified at what I had done. This dismay on the Captain's face grew into an expression of savage cunning, and I knew that all the deviltry of his lifelong madness was roused to a ferocious passion. His head sank below his shoulders; his hands curled and stiffened like the claws of an enraged beast; his eyes at first swelled glaringly from their sockets, then sank back beneath the half-closed lids in a terrible scrutiny of menace. And suddenly he sprang upright with his hands thrown behind his head, and burst into a peal of demoniac laughter more terrifying than the brutal crouching of his first posture. And still I stood motionless watching him. His frenzied mirth subsided at length into broken gigglings, hysterical and unnatural. Tottering a little he felt about for a chair and sat down heavily. Then drawing out a huge kerchief he mopped his brow which was beaded over with perspiration, and still faintly chuckling said, "Ha, yes, excellent; excellent, indeed. That's good, Tommy; that's a good joke, a really good joke, 'pon my soul." He threw back his head and forced out a harsh laugh. I took a step forward. "Sir," I began, wondering how I might undo the evil I had done. But at that he sprang up, and his savage madness returned upon him.