Bloem set the tray down on the floor, fumbled for a key, and turned it in the lock. He pushed the door half-open, and the Saint could see one corner of the cabin, for the lights were on inside. Then Bloem bent down to pick up the tray, and as he did so Simon dived from the eighth stair. The Saint landed on one hunched shoulder, and that shoulder impinged accurately over Bloem’s kidneys. The man gave a grunt of agony. All the weight of Simon’s leaping, falling body was hurtling on behind that muscular shoulder, and Bloem was caught off his equilibrium. The impact sent the Boer toppling over, and his head was bumped forcefully against the floor as Simon crashed on top of him. Bloem was absolutely out, but the sound of the scuffle might possibly have been heard. The Saint was on his feet again with the speed of a fighting panther. He grabbed Bloem by the collar and yanked him into the cabin; then he snatched in the tray. In a moment he had the door shut and had turned with his back to it to see what his impulse had let him in for. It was not till then that he saw someone sitting quietly on the bunk. “Oh, how d’you do, Auntie?” said the Saint, who was always polite, and Agatha Girton’s lips curved ironically. “You’re really rather a wonderful man, Mr. Templar,” she remarked. Chapter XVII Piracy Coming from the opposite side of the tor to that of the Saint’s take-off, Patricia and her two lieutenants had no need to make a _détour_. They approached the Tiger’s ship on the sheltered side. The hull of it cast a deep and spacious shadow over the moonlit waters, and all the attention of the crew would be concentrated towards the island and away from the swimmers, so that the only precautions the raiders had to observe were those of slipping through the quiet sea without noise. When the sides of the ship loomed above them, Patricia forged ahead and led the way up under the bows. There they rested for a moment, clinging with cramped fingers to the edges of the plates, while their leader reconnoitred. She swam back a little way to get a clear view of the anchor chain, and saw the same disadvantages in that line of attack as the Saint himself had envisaged. Then, being the freshest of the trio after the swim, she moved along the side to prospect for an alternative route. Thus she discovered the rope ladder which the Saint had used, and returned to inform the others of their good fortune. They followed her back—Orace was plugging doggedly on, but Algy was in great distress, and had held them back considerably in the last quarter-mile—and the girl caught the lower rungs and pulled herself out of the water. “Half a lap more, and then we can rest,” she encouraged in a whisper, leaning down and pressing Algy’s hand. “Try to raise just an ounce more—we’ve got to move fast till we find some place to hide.”