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He saw them enter the captain's cabin with the skipper, and then he saw Mr Divine join them Billy noted the haste displayed by the four and it set hi The scrap of conversation between Divine and Simms that he had overheard returned to him He wanted to hear more, and as Billy was not handicapped by any overly refined notions of the ethics which frown upon eavesdropping he lost no ti the scene of his labors to a point sufficiently close to one of the cabin ports to permit him to note what took place within
What the mucker beard of that conversationafter his own heart was doing--so as Divine could have a hand in it It aler of the Half broke up so suddenly that Billy had to drop to his knees to escape the observation of those within the cabin As it was, Theriere, who had started to leave a second before the others, caught a fleeting glimpse of a face that quickly had been withdrawn froh its oere fearful of detection
Without a word to his companions the Frenchman left the cabin, but once outside he bounded up the companionway to the deck with the speed of a squirrel Nor was he an instant too soon, for as he e forward
"Hey there, you!" he cried "Come back here"
Thecountenance, and the second officer saw that it was the felloho had given Ward such a tri the first day out
"Oh, it's you is it, Byrne?" he said in a not unpleasant tone "Come tohe wheeled about and retraced his way below, the seaman at his heels
"My man," said Theriere, once the tere behind the closed door of the officer's cabin, "I needn't ask how much you overheard of the conversation in the captain's cabin If you hadn't overheard a great deal more than you should you wouldn't have been so keen to escape detection just now What I wanted to say to you is this Keep a close tongue in your head and stick byto happen in the next few days This bunch," he jerked his thu their necks for halters, an' I for one don't intend to pokeThere's ht, and handled without too et out of it if that man Divine has to be counted in I've a plan of my own, an' it won't take but three or four of us to put it across