"That's a lie!" insisted Captain Bert. "If my schooner had rammed one of the fleet, how come it she fetched up to the east'ard of the Cowyard? A burnin' schooner that rams a vessel ain't likely to recover herself and make a half-turn against the wind." "By gum, that's right!" agreed Captain Ed. "I told ye Bert never done it----" "And the light--did ye notice?" Captain Bert went on. "'Twas yellow and the _Mary's_ was red. The _Mehitable_ never caught fire from the _Mary_. She was set afire from the inside. Part of that yellow light was kerosene." The stranger looked at Captain Ed and smiled. "I admit the idea of scuttlin' the fleet come to me," Captain Bert went on, "but I never sanctioned Bill to set the _Mary_ afire. He done it without my knowin'. Said he'd got a customer for the old hulk in Gloucester--got me to sail there with her tonight." "A fake trip," put in Captain Ed. The stranger held up a hand to restrain him. [Illustration] "I fought for the wheel when he set the _Mary_ afire--and I got it. I sheered the _Mary_ off from the fleet, and 'twas while Bill and me fought for the wheel that the mains'l fell blazin' on Bill--and I done my best to save him----" "It was that burn on his back that killed Bill," Captain Ed explained. "Mr. Clyde, as a friend of Cap'n Bert's, I forbid ye to tantalize him any longer." "I'm accepting your orders," smiled the stranger. "Cap'n Blackmer, don't think we're blind to what you did. We were trailing the _Mary Chilton_ in the fog. We saw everything that happened." "You trailed us!" "We've suspected it all along. The Crosby Company had sunk too much money in its fleet." "That's what Bill told me." Captain Bert's eyes were wide. "The Crosby Company was left bankrupt with a fleet it could not get rid of, although they succeeded in keeping the news from getting out. It had no capital to operate such a fleet with, but the vessels were insured up to the last dollar of their value." "Tell him about Bill," interposed Captain Ed. "Wait." And to Captain Bert again, "The Brisfield Insurance Company sent me as its inspector to keep the fleet under observation while it was in this harbor. Cap'n Pierce is a stockholder in the insurance company. So as soon as I got here--about an hour or so ago on the night train from Boston--I looked him up." "I'd be in consider'ble money if ye'd come an hour or so sooner," commented Captain Ed. "But go on." "Cap'n Ed said you were starting for Gloucester in an old hulk you'd discarded--with a new mate--and we agreed it looked suspicious. So we trailed you in his sloop." Captain Bert sat bolt upright. "We stayed to wind'ard of the Crosby fleet to make observations," Mr. Clyde went on. "That's why we didn't pick you up earlier. The last we saw of you and Bill, you were fighting for the wheel with fire all around you. We had to get complete evidence that the Crosby fleet was set afire from the inside of the _Mehitable_." "Tell him about--" insisted Captain Ed.