Читать книгу Wrecked on Spider Island; Or, How Ned Rogers Found the Treasure онлайн

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“Not with the brig; but there’s some one aboard who must be attended to mighty quick if you count on carrying out the plan we spoke about the other night.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a listener while we were talkin’ in the pantry.”

“Who?” and now fear caused the captain to be very wide awake.

“The boy. He can hear even a whisper from the pantry while lying in his berth. I tried the experiment a little while ago, an’ know that not a word could have escaped him.”

“And he heard what I said?”

“That’s the size of it. He came to ask me not to leave him behind when the brig was scuttled, an’ you can fancy what a turn it gave me. He didn’t seem to think it anything out of the way to tell the whole story, an’ I’ve taken the precaution of lockin’ him in his room.”

“That was right. He must fall overboard before daylight, or we shall stand a good chance of going to jail if we ever show up on shore again.”

“Now don’t talk foolishness,” Stout replied impatiently. “In the first place, I won’t have murder committed; it’s bad enough to scuttle a vessel. Then, again, it couldn’t be done without some of the crew knowing about it, and even if they simply had suspicions the loss of the brig immediately after the boy was silenced would show up the whole matter.”