“Do you think you can catch him?” asked Bessie Harlan, leaning forward in her chair, with rapt interest depicted in her expression.

Nick Carter laughed aloud.

“It would seem, Miss Harlan,” he replied, “that at the present moment, in order to do that, I would be obliged to swim. Pirates do not leave clues behind them, like burglars, outlaws, footpads, and common thieves. You cannot pick up old buttons and locks of hair on the crest of the waves, and there are no saloons and other places of resort along the coast which I might frequent in order to get on the track of one of the pirate’s pals. However——”

“I see you are laughing at me,” she said.

“Not at all, I assure you. But you asked me if I thought I could catch him, so I have to reply that I don’t know.”

“Oh, he’ll catch him, all right!” said Kane, with supreme confidence.

“Do you really think so?” asked the count.

“If he does not,” insisted Kane, “this pirate chap will be the first fellow Nick was ever up against whom he did not catch in the end. But what are those questions, Nick?”

“Why, I’ll begin with this one. You quoted one[33] remark made by the pirate which suggested that it might have been followed by another on the same subject later on. But, first, let me ask you if he did take your race cups—your trophies?”

“Yes—confound him! He did take them—every one of them!”

“That brings me back to the question. When reference was first made to them, you asked him to spare you those, and he replied that he thought that subject could be arranged. Now, his reply to you would suggest that he intended to permit you to retain them, provided you made up their value to him in some other form. Was there anything of that sort mentioned?”

Kane leaned back in his chair, and lighted a fresh cigar.

“You are a cute proposition, Nick,” he said. “I was saving that as a sort of surprise for you, but I see you are beyond surprising.”

“Then he did refer to the subject again?”

“No; he did not refer to it again in words, but he left a note behind him about it.”

“Ah, that is better still! I begin to think that a pirate can leave clues behind him, after all.”

“Oh, it was not much,” said Kane.

“Such as it was, however, let me see it.”

Kane produced his pocketbook, and from one of the compartments took a slip of paper, which he gave into the hand of the detective.

“There it is,” he said. “Read it for yourself.”

[34]

The detective spread the note open before him, and read aloud:

“I have taken your trophies, Mr. Kane, as you will observe, but I will give you my promise that you shall hear from me concerning them, and be given an opportunity to redeem them, if you care to do so, before they are destroyed; and for that you have the word of Captain Sparkle, of the Shadow.”

“That must be the name of his craft, the Shadow,” said Kane.

“Without doubt.”

“What do you get from the note? Anything?”

“I get a specimen of Sparkle’s handwriting, which, it is true, amounts to little or nothing; but we also get that promise, which I have no doubt he will keep, that he will communicate with you again, and in that communication will make some sort of a suggestion by which you may redeem your cups.”

“And do you think you might be able to get on the track in that way?”

“I think that such a thing is possible, although extremely improbable. We will have to wait until we receive the communication before we bank too much on what it may contain.”

“Exactly. That is what I thought.”

“Tell me, did the pirate talk to you as if he were making any effort to disguise his voice?”

“Not at all.”

“Did anything about his voice, his manner, his walk,[35] his air, or his conduct remind you of any living person you know, or of anybody you have ever seen before?”

Kane broke out into immoderate laughter, and, turning toward the count, he exclaimed:

“What did I tell you, Cadillac?” and then to Nick he added: “Count Cadillac ought to thank his stars that he was here aboard the yacht when the pirate visited us, for, honestly, Carter, there was not a thing about him which did not in some way suggest the count himself to me.”

“Indeed!” said Nick. “That is rather remarkable, don’t you think so?”

“Highly so. I should say,” said the count.

Kane laughed on; but presently he said:

“His voice, his manner of speaking, his walk, his carriage, his general air, his height, his figure—even his courtly bow—was Count Cadillac all over. We have had a good laugh about it among ourselves, Carter. Even the count admits it to be true, and, like a good fellow, he has consented not to take offense if I forget myself and joke him about it.”

“That is very kind of you, count,” said the detective. “It can’t be very pleasant to be told that you resemble a pirate.”

“Oh, I don’t at all mind it, Mr. Carter.”

“And do you yourself recognize the logic of the suggestion?”

“I am forced to admit that I do.”

“Did the pirate, at the time he was here, remind you of yourself?”

[36]

“Oh, well, that is perhaps going too far, don’t you know. I must confess that I did not discover it at the time; but afterward, when the subject was brought to my attention——”

“You did see it, then, eh?”

“Yes, I really did, sir.”

“And were the ladies impressed by the same idea?” asked Nick, turning toward them. “I mean, of course, before it was suggested by Mr. Kane?”

“Oh, yes,” replied Mrs. Kane. “We both saw it, and spoke about it together before Max referred to it at all.”

“Did it strike you, also, Miss Harlan, before your sister spoke about it?”

“Yes, indeed. I saw it at once. That was why I took things so easy when I first came on deck. When I saw Captain Sparkle standing there beside Max, I thought he was the count. I suspected at that moment that the whole thing was an entertainment of some sort that he had gotten up for our benefit.”

“And you, Mrs. Kane?”

“You must remember that I came on deck with the count, so I could not possibly mistake the pirate for him; but it did occur to me, when I heard the man’s voice, that he might be a brother, or——”

“Who had taken that opportunity and that occasion to present himself to you, eh?”

“Why, yes; something like that. But the thought did not have time to take form before the idea was entirely driven out of my head.”

[37]

“Of course not”

“You seem to take this thing quite seriously, Carter,” said Kane.

“Certainly, Max. Don’t you understand that, while the suggestion is not at all complimentary to the count, it still gives me rather a correct idea concerning Sparkle’s appearance, with the red costume eliminated; and I don’t suppose he wears that costume in private life.”

“I see. You mean that if you should meet somebody in the corridor of the Waldorf, for example, who reminded you of the count, you would immediately jump at the conclusion that he was the pirate chief, Sparkle, eh?”

“I don’t make it so emphatic as that, Max. What do you think of it, count?” asked Nick.

“Oh, wouldn’t I like to catch him, whoever he may be! Oh, wouldn’t I give him particular fits—that fellow who looks like me!” sang the count, in reply. And then he broke into a laugh.

“This is all really so ridiculous, don’t you know,” he said; “so absurd! And yet, Mr. Carter, there is enough truth about it to give it some interest, after all.”

“Now, Max, how much property did the fellow get away with?”

“As near as I can figure it, about twenty thousand dollars’ worth. That includes the cash he took, which amounts to almost three thousand. Why, Nick, he didn’t leave us a solid silver piece of any description[38] on the yacht. You will see that for yourself when we go down to luncheon.”

The Goalong was passing through Hell Gate at the moment, and Nick, who had been thinking deeply since Kane’s last remark, turned to him suddenly.

“I believe you said we were bound for the anchorage, where the pirate visited you, eh?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“What was your idea in doing that?”

“Well, I thought you might like to see the ground—that is, the ripples—where the thing occurred.”

“Yes, I would,” said Nick seriously. And then he added: “Do you happen to have bathing-suits aboard, Max?”

“Sure! Why? Want to take a swim?”

“Oh, I thought of it. I always feel that way when I get out on the water! and it is a very warm day, don’t you think?”

“I’ll bet it is hot enough to boil eggs along Broadway by this time.”

“How deep is the water at the anchorage, Max—I mean at the buoy where you tied up last night?”

“I haven’t an idea. Thirty feet, perhaps.”

“We’ll be there presently, and after we have anchored, if the ladies will indulge me in the desire, I will borrow one of those bathing-suits and take a dip. Who will join me?” he added, taking them all in in his question.

But Kane alone replied in the affirmative. The count shrugged his shoulders, and remarked that he would much prefer his book and a cigar under the awning,[39] and the ladies said they would seize that opportunity to be put ashore, in order that they might make the calls in the neighborhood which they had been unable to do the preceding evening.

Thirty minutes later the Goalong was made fast to the buoy where she was floating at the time of Captain Sparkle’s unannounced visit.