“I did not doubt but that I should be able to bring her on board, but I feared that she could not be concealed should suspicion be directed to the vessel. I had watched the faces of the sultan and his attendants as closely as I could, and remarked nothing to alarm me. Syeed’s demeanor was as mild and gracious as usual; nevertheless, knowing something of the policy in the East, I could not divest myself of the thought that we were watched. Hadji’s black face, with the wiry mustache and the checked turban over it, seemed to haunt every dark corner of the ship as the day waned. Catherton, also, could not entirely conceal his anxiety. He had been taking his grog freer than usual for the last two days, and as he was by no means what is termed a hard drinking man, this tended, as I thought, to unhinge his faculties in some degree, and give his cheek an ashy hue foreign to its natural deep bronze. He smoked incessantly, the sheroot being never out of his mouth, and his frequent change of position, when every one else felt indisposed to stir after the decks were cleared, showed a degree of restlessness which, under other circumstances, would have been hard to account for. I thought it my duty, notwithstanding, to give him another hint of the danger he was running the ship into, and choosing my opportunity, accordingly spoke out pretty plainly. “‘I tell you, Captain Catherton,’ said I, ‘you can have no idea of the means which that accursed eunuch has of obtaining information. He has spies every where—perhaps in this very ship, and I know him too well not to feel certain that, should any of the ship’s company be found in any way implicated in the plot, you and I in less than an hour afterward would be tenants of the same dungeon, with a fair prospect of being kept prisoners for life, or perhaps put to death in some diabolical way.’ “‘Mr. Miller,’ he answered quietly, ‘I command this ship. Do you bring the woman off safely, and I’ll stake my neck on the rest.’