or devil, and it's a rotten crazy world anyway; but I do believe in
hunches. And I know I'm going to get him."

"What will you do?" I queried.

"Do?" Mr. Pike's voice was fraught with surprise that I should not
know. "Do? Well, what did he do to old Captain Somers? Yet he's
disappeared these last three years now. I've heard neither hide nor
hair of him. But he's a sailor, and he'll drift back to the sea, and
some day . . . "

In the illumination of a match with which the second mate was
lighting his pipe I saw Mr. Pike's gorilla arms and huge clenched
paws raised to heaven, and his face convulsed and working. Also, in
that brief moment of light, I saw that the second mate's hand which
held the match was shaking.

"And I ain't never seen even a photo of him," Mr. Pike added. "But
I've got a general idea of his looks, and he's got a mark
unmistakable. I could know him by it in the dark. All I'd have to
do is feel it. Some day I'll stick my fingers into that mark."

"What did you say, sir, was the captain's name?" Mr. Mellaire asked
casually.

"Somers--old Captain Somers," Mr. Pike answered.

Mr. Mellaire repeated the name aloud several times, and then
hazarded: