“Show the gentleman in,” was the order given as soon as the note was read, and a moment afterwards a tall, well-made man entered the room. He was about thirty years old, originally possessed of fair hair and a concomitant complexion. Already, however, his hair was of the sparsest, and of nondescript tint, while exposure to the weather had invested his face and neck with the ruddiest of hues. As if to atone for the lack of hair on the top of his head, he was endowed with a moustache of which nine men out of ten would have envied him the possession. The extremely punctilious neatness of his attire would have led many to set him down as foppishly inclined. But one look at the keen, piercing grey eyes would have negatived the supposition that he was of a weak nature. “Pray be seated, Captain Gerard,” said Mr. Bootle. “You have business with us, I believe.” “Well, I think so. To begin with, you don’t seem to be friendly towards Captain Cochrane.” “One isn’t usually good chums with the people one wants to arrest.” “Precisely so. Now, I am not particularly anxious, either to do Cochrane an ill turn, or to do you a good turn without sufficient reason. A short explanation of my position will show you that I have a strong personal motive in seeking your further acquaintance. I have been ten years in the employment of the owners of the ‘Merry Maid,’ and when two years ago I passed my final exam., and got a master’s ticket, I was promised the first vacancy as captain that offered in the company. Soon after this the former skipper of the ‘Merry Maid’ died, and I expected to be appointed to her, but was disgusted to find myself passed over in favour of a cousin of one of the owners--Cochrane, forsooth. Now, he is a man with not half my experience, and is popular with nobody that has to sail with him; so you may readily believe that I have not found it easy to swallow humble pie as his subordinate. At present he is taking a holiday. He says that he has had a legacy left him. You boarded the ship this morning with a warrant to arrest him on a charge of being concerned in a diamond robbery. I have put two and two together, and have come to the conclusion that the legacy is a hoax invented to cover his possession of money he could not otherwise give a good account of. If your suspicions, and my suspicions, I may add, are proved correct, Captain Cochrane won’t tread the ‘Merry Maid’s’ deck again. Failing his return, I am sure to be given permanent command, and as I consider myself to have a right to the position, I shall be very glad to give any information I can that will remove my rival from my path. I have, you see, been perfectly straightforward and honest with you. I don’t pretend to disinterested motives, or any rot about only being anxious to serve the ends of justice. I want Cochrane out of my way, and for that reason alone I am ready to co-operate with you against him. If you care to give me your confidence, we may be able to help each other.”