“This is not precisely the costume in which I should have preferred to present myself to you, madame,” continued the detective, with a smile. “Bathing-suits were necessary, under the circumstances, inasmuch as we were obliged to swim out to the Shadow in order to get aboard of her at all. And, in order to relieve your mind, I will tell you how we did it: We came aboard at the moment when your husband—or his brother, for, like yourself, I have no idea which one of the Counts of Cadillac the gentleman who has just left you happens to be—followed by his men, boarded the Aurora. After that we hid beneath the table in the adjoining cabin while you went forward. When you did that, we came in here; and you know the rest.

“Now, madame, I dislike exceedingly to inconvenience you, but I must ask you to point out to me which is your own stateroom, and you must go into it, and remain there until the remainder of our work is done. That work, as you no doubt guess, is to capture the captain and crew of this vessel.

“I know that you are not a pirate in your sympathies any more than you are in fact, and I can assure you that you have nothing to dread personally. I overheard your conversation with Captain Sparkle just now.

[99]

“You cannot answer me, so I will continue as though you had done so.

“We do not wish to be disturbed in the work we have to do, and you must not be permitted to give an alarm. Now, there are two ways to prevent you from doing so; one is to force that towel inside your jaws, and so to gag you so that you cannot cry out; but that would be an indignity which I dislike to commit. The other is to accept your word that you will not attempt to cry out, or in any way to communicate an alarm to any person on this vessel while you are inside that room. I am sure if you give your word you will keep it, for I have just heard you state that the honor of your own family is your greatest solicitude. Chick, you may take away the towel. Now, madame, will you make me the promise I require?”

“I will,” she replied at once, “if you will permit me to go to my room and to lock myself inside.”

“Thank you. Will you promise me that you will make no effort to leave that room until some other person releases you?”

“Yes, monsieur.”

“Very good. Stand back, Chick.”

The woman rose and turned away without a word. They watched her cross the cabin and enter her room, and then heard the click of the lock as she closed the door.

“I am sorry for that woman, Carter,” said Maxwell Kane.

“So am I. She is the victim of circumstances, like[100] many another woman in the world, who meets with censure because of the faults of the man she loves. And now, since there is no doubt that we have sufficient time, for the vessel has not slowed down yet, and, therefore, the captain cannot return here for some time to come, I suggest that we make use of some of the wardrobe possessed by these gentlemen who own this craft, and get out of these wet bathing-suits. Come.”

When the three emerged again from the passageway into the cabin there were broad smiles on the faces of Maxwell Kane and Chick when they saw Nick Carter, and not without reason.

He had directed Kane to enter the stateroom into which he had himself first dodged, at the beginning of this last scene, and had selected for his own uses the one which was directly opposite that in which the woman had locked herself.

He believed that to be the room belonging to Captain Sparkle, and in that he was not mistaken. A short search among the effects of the room discovered to him another complete suit of the favorite costume of the pirate chieftain, blond wig and all, and he lost no time in arraying himself in them. True, there was no mustache and imperial with which to adorn his features, but neither was there need of them, since the red mask was there.

And thus it happened that when he returned to the cabin, where Kane and Chick were already awaiting him, he looked exactly as Captain Sparkle had appeared at the time when he so silently boarded the deck of the Goalong and looted the yacht.

[101]

“Now, Nick,” said Kane impatiently, “what next?”

“Wait,” replied the detective.

“Confound it! that is your inevitable reply, Carter, whenever I ask a question.”

“Well, it is usually the correct one. If Captain Sparkle returns to this cabin before he docks or anchors the Shadow, we will capture him at once, but I don’t think he will do that. Hark! The vessel is slowing down already. She has stopped. There! Do you feel that tremble through her? She is backing. And now the propeller has stopped. Good! There is a slight jar, probably made by the hull coming in contact with piling, or something like it. And there is the scraping noise she makes while she glides along against it. We have arrived, my friends. In a very few moments Captain Sparkle will be here.”

“Good!” said Kane. “I, for one, am becoming impatient.”

“Oblige me, both of you, by stepping into the passage, behind the portière, and you will not have to wait much longer.”

They did as requested, and Nick at once dropped into the chair which the capta............