"I don't wonder it took you in," he said, with a tinge of admiration. "It's a most artistic forgery." Mr. McEwen drew a deep breath. "My God!" he said softly; "I'm wishing I'd found him in the engine-room. I'd have broken him in twa." "It's a pity you didn't," said Tony. "I should probably have been able to recognize one or other of the bits." He turned to Captain Simmons. "What was he like, and what did he do--exactly?" The skipper, who was a man of slow speech, pondered for a moment before replying. "He was right enough to look at in a way--well dressed and all that sort of thing. A youngish, darkish sort of fellow--might have had a touch of the Dago about him, but he spoke English as well as you or me. As for what he did--well, Mr. McEwen can tell you that best." "I'd had the head off one o' the cylinders," burst out the Scotchman, "an' there she was put back in her place, but no screwed down. What did the black-hearted Jezebel do, but drop in a spanner, a nine-inch steel spanner that would ha' jarred the head o' the cylinder to Gehenna if so be we'd screwed her doon wi'oot takin' a look inside." "Have you any idea who he was, Sir Antony?" inquired the skipper anxiously. "I think I know where he came from," replied Tony. He got up from his seat, and for a moment or two stared thoughtfully out of the skipper's port-hole. It seemed evident beyond doubt that the mysterious "Mr. Hemmingway" could have been none other than an agent of Da Freitas, and for the first time since he had light-heartedly entered upon his adventure Tony felt a sudden slight sense of misgiving. There was a touch about this latest effort of the Marquis that suggested unpleasant depths of knowledge and resource on that gentleman's part. It seemed hardly probable that he would have instigated an attempt upon the _Betty's_ engines, unless he had a very shrewd idea of the use to which that vessel was shortly to be put. If this were so, the situation was some way from being as simple and safe as it had previously appeared, and with a sudden determination Tony resolved to take his companions into his confidence. "I think you ought to know the facts of the case--both of you," he said. "It's quite on the cards I might be running you into trouble or even danger, and I don't think we included that in our agreements, did we?" The skipper stroked his beard. "One can't include everything," he remarked; "eh, Mr. McEwen?" "I'm no sayin' I've any great objection to eether," observed the latter cautiously; "not in good company." "Well, you shall hear," said Tony; "and then you can judge for yourselves."