“Ay, but it is not you,” said Eugene. With something so suddenly fierce in him that the informer returned submissively; “Well, well, well, t’other governor, I didn’t say it was. A man may speak.”

“And vermin may be silent,” said Eugene. “Hold your tongue, you water-rat!”

Astonished by his friend’s unusual heat, Lightwood stared too, and then said: “What can have become of this man?”

“Can’t imagine. Unless he dived overboard.” The informer wiped his brow ruefully as he said it, sitting in his boat and always staring disconsolate.

“Did you make his boat fast?”

“She’s fast enough till the tide runs back. I couldn’t make her faster than she is. Come aboard of mine, and see for your own-selves.”