"You needn't worry, Captain," he remarked coolly. "I am not taking too
many chances, and if our friend Mr. Jocelyn Thew should turn out to be
the man I believe him to be, I would rather tackle him alone."

"Why," Mr. Dix demanded, "should anything in the shape of violence
take place? The ship can be searched, every article of baggage
ransacked, and every passenger made to run the gauntlet."

Crawshay smiled.

"The search you speak of is already arranged for, Mr. Dix," he said;
"long cables from my friend Hobson have already reached Liverpool--but
the efficacy of such a proposed search would depend a little, would it
not, upon whether we reach Liverpool?" "But if we were submarined,"
the captain pointed out, "the papers would go to the bottom."

Crawshay leaned forward and whispered one word in the captain's ear.
The latter sat for a moment as though paralysed.

"What's to prevent that fellow Robins bringing her right on to our
track?" Crawshay demanded. "That is the reason I spent last night
listening for the wireless. It's the reason I'm going to do the same
to-night."

The captain sprang to his feet.

"We'll run no risks about this," he declared firmly. "We'll dismantle
the apparatus. I'd never hold up my head again if the _Von
Blucher_ got us!"