Hence, the mine or store from
which the package had been stolen or bought could be identified. Such
evidence was of high circumstantial value. Courtenay put the wrapper
in the same drawer as the cartridges, entered in the log the time and
manner of its discovery, and forthwith dismissed it from his mind.
It was almost dark when he went on deck. The wind was keen and chilly.
It whistled through the broken windows of the wheel-house, and seemed
to have in it a promise of bad weather. But a glance aloft and at the
sky beyond the southern headland--Point _Kansas_, as it was called on
board--reassured him. The far-flung arc overhead was cloudless. The
stars of the southern hemisphere, vivid and bright, though less
familiar than those of the north, were reflected in the black water.
The ship was so still, the surroundings so peaceful, save for the plash
of tiny waves created by the breeze, that he was almost startled when a
soft voice came from the lower deck:
"Where in the world have you been, Captain Courtenay? Joey is fretting
for you, and I have carried him all over the ship in vain search.
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