"
"The rest of our coal was shipped at Coronel?"
"Yes, sir."
"You hear? It is exactly as I have told you," said Courtenay, glancing
at the others. "I must explain to you, Mr. Boyle, that I wished you to
state the facts in front of witnesses before I gave you my reasons for
cross-examining you on the matter. Mr. Walker and I have been certain,
all along, that the furnaces were blown up wilfully. Now our
suspicions are proved. This morning, after a careful scrutiny, we came
across a number of lumps of coal cleverly constructed out of small
pieces glued together. In the center of each lump was a stick of
dynamite, protected by an asbestos wrapper. It was undoubtedly the
intent of some miscreant that a number of these lumps should be fed
into the furnaces. This actually occurred, as we know, but, by the
mercy of Providence, the ship did not experience the full power of the
explosion, or she must have sunk like a stone."
"Huh," grunted Boyle. "Who holds the insurance?"
"The shippers of the cargo, of course--Messrs. Baring, Thompson &
Miguel."
"Worth a quarter of a million sterling, ain't it?"
"Yes.
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