"I don't merely suspect it, my dear sir--I _know_ it. I suspected it when I first saw you, but I'm certain now. You've been systematically poisoned for several months past, and not solely by mercury and croton oil, but by Calabar bean as well. We may, a little later, if we can get hold of some of the poison, be able to prove our statement by analysis. Meanwhile, we know we've got hold of the truth, and what we've got to do is to find out the person or persons who have had a hand in this affair." "Then you may make up your mind, doctor, that it's Jasper who's done it," affirmed Captain Graham, emphatically. "Poison's exactly the sort o' weapon he'd use, the double-faced, smooth-tongued villain that he is." "I grant you, captain, that he's all that, and much more besides, perhaps. But before we fix this crime upon him we've to discover first what motive he could have in committing it; and, secondly, what means he adopted." "Not much difficulty in assignin' a motive when we recall the ambuscade and its subsequent effects," returned Graham. "Twelve months' interdict against his name; checkmated aboard his own ship, if you please, and unable, ever since that day, to get the least sympathy from our gallant chairman here, though Jasper's friends tried their hardest in committee. But you'll have to hear the whole story, doctor, 'fore you can understand right, so by your leave and Mr. Lees' I'll spin you the yarn from the beginnin'." Captain Graham gave a rapid account of the events of the past four months, and concluded with the remark:-- "Seems to me the business fairly bristles with motives. What beats me, though, is the question of his accomplice, seein' as there ain't more than five or six of us who have entered this cabin regular-like; and I've never thought o' lookin' to find a traitor among the crew o' the _Elora_. I could have taken my davy there wasn't a dishonest man aboard." "I shall be inclined to say that Ivory is guilty, if only we can find the link between him and this ship," said Maxwell at last. "You have had your meals, I understand, almost invariably alone, Mr. Lees. By whom were they prepared and served?" "By Daniel White, the steward." "A man--I take it from Captain Graham--who has nothing against his character?" "Came to me two years ago with a clean score," chimed in the captain of the _Elora_, "and I ain't had no fault to find with 'im since. 'Honest Daniel' he's called, too, by the crew." "He has certainly shown the greatest attention to me during my illness; has been thoughtful and obliging in the extreme," said the supercargo. "Yet it seems to me, captain," he added, after a thoughtful pause, "that my memory is still better than yours. Don't you remember the conversation we had in your cabin in July on the subject of the thefts? or is it merely the fancy of a poor brain that has had much to bear these last three months?"