CHAPTER XLV
MR. SABIN IN DANGER
Mr. Sabin found the captain by no means inclined to talk about the visitwhich they had just received. He was still hurt and ruffled at thepropositions which had been made to him, and annoyed at the variousdelays which seemed conspiring to prevent him from making a decentpassage.
"I have been most confoundedly insulted by those d---- Germans," he saidto Mr. Sabin, meeting him a little later in the gangway. "I don't knowexactly what your position may be, but you will have to be on yourguard. They have gone on to New York, and I suppose they will try andget their warrant endorsed there before we land."
"They have a warrant, then?" Mr. Sabin remarked.
"They showed me something of the sort," the captain answered scornfully."And it is signed by the Kaiser. But, of course, here it isn't worth thepaper it is written on, and America would never give you up without aspecial extradition treaty."
Mr. Sabin smiled. He had calculated all the chances nicely, and a volumeof international law was lying at that moment in his state-room facedownwards.
"I think," he said, "that I am quite safe from arrest, but at the sametime, Captain, I am very sorry to be such a troublesome passenger toyou."
The captain shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, it is not your fault," he said;"but I have made up my mind about one thing. I am not going to stop myship this side of Boston Harbour for anything afloat. We have lost halfa day already."
"If the Cunard Company will send me the extra coal bill," Mr. Sabinsaid, "I will pay it cheerfully, for I am afraid that both stoppageshave been on my account."
"Bosh!" The Captain, who was moving away, stopped short. "You hadnothing to do with these New Yorkers and their broken-down yacht."
Mr. Sabin finished lighting a cigarette which he had taken from hiscase, and, passing his arm through the captain's, drew him a littlefurther away from the gangway.
"I'm afraid I had," he said. "As a matter of fact they are not NewYorkers, and they are not husband and wife. They are simply agents inthe pay of the German secret police."
"What, spies!" the captain exclaimed.
Mr. Sabin nodded.
"Exactly!"
The captain was still incredulous. "Do you mean to tell me," heexclaimed, "that charming little woman is not an American at all?--thatshe is a fraud?"
"There isn't a shadow of a doubt about it," Mr. Sabin replied. "Theyhave both tacitly admitted it. As a matter of fact I am in treaty now tobuy them over. They were on the point of accepting my terms when thesefellows boarded us. Whether they will do so now I cannot tell. I sawthat fellow Graisheim talking to the man just before they left thevessel."
"You are safe while you are on my ship, Mr. Sabin," the captain saidfirmly. "I shall watch that fellow Watson closely, and if he gives methe least chance, I will have him put in irons. Confound the man and hisplausible----"
They were interrupted by the deck steward, who came with a message fromMrs. Watson. She was making tea on deck--might she have the loan of thecaptain's table, and would they come?
The captain gave the necessary assent, but was on the point of decliningthe invitation. "I don't want to go near the people," he said.
"On the other hand," Mr. Sabin objected, "I do not want them to think,at present at any rate, that I have told you who they are. You hadbetter come."
They crossed the deck to a sunny little corner behind one of the boats,where Mrs. Watson had just completed her preparation for tea.
She greeted them gaily and chatted to them while they waited for thekettle to boil, but to Mr. Sabin's observant eyes there was a remarkablechange in her. Her laughter was forced and she was very pale.
Several times Mr. Sabin caught her watching him in an odd way as thoughshe desired to attract his attention, but Mr. Watson, who for once hadseemed to desert the smoking-room, remained by her side like a shadow.Mr. Sabin felt that his presence was ominous. The tea was made andhanded round.
Mr. Watson sent away the deck steward, who was preparing to wait uponthem, and did the honours himself. He passed the sugar to the captainand stood before Mr. Sabin with the sugar-tongs in his hand.
"Sugar?" he inquired, holding out a lump.
Mr. Sabin took sugar, and was on the point of holding out his cup. Justthen he chanced to glance across to Mrs. Watson. Her eyes were dilatedand she seemed to be on the point of springing from her chair. Meetinghis glance she shook her head, and then bent over her hot waterapparatus.
"No sugar, thanks," Mr. Sabin answered. "This tea looks too good tospoil by any additions. One of the best things I learned in Asia wasto take my tea properly. Help yourself, Mr. Watson."
Mr. Watson rather clumsily dropped the piece of sugar which he had beenholding out to Mr. Sabin, and the ship giving a slight lurch just atthat moment, it rolled down the deck and apparently into the sea. Witha little remark as to his clumsiness he resumed his seat.
Mr. Sabin looked into his tea and across to Mrs. Watson. The slightestof nods was sufficient for him. He drank it off and asked for some more.
The tea party on the whole was scarcely a success. The Captain wasaltogether upset and quite indisposed to be amiable towards people whohad made a dupe of him. Mrs. Watson seemed to be suffering from a stateof nervous excitement, and her husband was glum and silent. Mr. Sabinalone appeared to be in good spirits, and he talked continually with hiscustomary ease and polish.
The Captain did not stay very long, and upon his departure Mr. Sabinalso rose.
"Am I to have the pleasure of taking you for a little walk, Mrs.Watson?" he asked.
She looked doubtfully at the tall, glum figure by her side, and her facewas almost haggard.
"I'm afraid--I think--I think--Mr. Watson has just asked me to walk withhim," she said, lamely; "we must have our stroll later on."
"I shall be ready and delighted at any time," Mr. Sabin answered with abow.
"We are going to have a moon to-night; perhaps you may be tempted towalk after dinner."
He ignored the evident restraint of both the man and the woman andstrolled away. Having nothing in particular to do he went into his deckcabin to dress a little earlier than usual, and when he had emerged thedinner gong had not yet sounded.
The deck was quite deserted, and lighting a _cigarette d'appetit_, hestrolled past the scene of their tea-party. A dark object under the boatattracted his attention. He stooped down and looked at it. Thomas, theship's cat, was lying there stiff and stark, and by the side of hisoutstretched tongue a lump of sugar.