He stared at me wonderingly for a moment; then turned and looked at the yawl. Evidently the blue-jackets had succeeded in checking the fire; the flame had died down, and the smoke now only hung about in wreaths; we could see figures running actively about the deck. "There may be men on there that need medical assistance," said Lorrimore. "Where's this boat you mentioned, Middlebrook? I'm going off to that vessel. Two of you men pull me across there." "I'll go with you," said I. "I left my boots in the cabin--I may find them--and a good deal else. The boat's just along here." The search party was a mixed lot--a couple of local policemen, some gamekeepers, two or three fishermen, one of Mr. Raven's men-servants. Two of the fishermen ran the boat into the water; Lorrimore and I sprang in. "This is the most extraordinary affair I ever heard of," he said as he sat down at my side in the stern. "You didn't see all these Chinamen? Miss Raven says that you actually suspected my man Wing to be on board!" "Lorrimore," said I, "in ten minutes you'll probably see and learn things that you'd never have dreamed of. Whether your man Wing is on board or not I don't know--but I know that that girl and I have had a marvellous escape from a nest of human devils! I can't say for myself, but--has my hair whitened?" "Your hair hasn't whitened," he said. "You were probably safer than you knew--safe enough, if Wing was there." "Well, I don't know," I retorted. "In future, let me avoid the sight of yellow cheeks and slit eyes--I've had enough. But tell me--how did you and your posse come this way? Didn't Mr. Raven get a wire last night?" "Mr. Raven did get a wire," he replied; "but before he got it, he'd become anxious, and had sent out some of his men folk along the moors and cliffs in search of you. One of them, very late in the evening, came across a man who had been cutting wood somewhere hereabouts and had seen you and Miss Raven passing through the woods near the shore in company with two strangers. Mr. Raven's man returned close on midnight, with this news, and the old gentleman was, of course, thrown into a great state of alarm. He roused the whole community round Ravensdene Court, got me up, and we set out, as you see. But--the whole thing's marvellous! I can't help thinking that Wing may have been on board this vessel, and that it was due to him you got away." "You've heard nothing of him--from London?" I suggested. "Nothing, from anywhere," he replied. "Which is precisely why I feel sure that when he went there he came in contact with these people and has been playing some deep game." "Deep, yes!" said I. "Deep indeed! But what game?"