That will await him when he enters port, said he, chuckling. It may
give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a precursor of his
fate as Openshaw did before him.
And who is this Captain Calhoun?
The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first.
How did you trace it, then?
He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with dates
and names.
I have spent the whole day, said he, over Lloyd s registers and
files of the old papers, following the future career of every vessel
which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in 83. There were
thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were reported there during those
months. Of these, one, the _Lone Star_, instantly attracted my
attention, since, although it was reported as having cleared from
London, the name is that which is given to one of the states of the
Union.
Texas, I think.
I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must have an
American origin.
What then?
I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque _Lone
Star_ was there in January, 85, my suspicion became a certainty. I
then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the port of
London.
Yes?
The _Lone Star_ had arrived here last week. I went down to the Albert
Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the early tide
this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired to Gravesend and
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