Sayfa 303 / 416

"No, it's no good!" broke out Code suddenly. "Much as I hate Nat

Burns, I don't believe he would come aboard my schooner just for

the purpose of stealing a silver-plated mirror. That isn't like

him. He's too clever to do anything like that. And, besides, what

kind of a revenge would that be for having lost the race?"

"Well, what can you suggest? How else did he get it?" Elsa was

frankly sceptical and clung to her own theory.

"He might have come aboard for something else, mightn't he, and

picked up the mirror just incidentally?"

"He might have, yes, but what else would bring him there?"

Code sat rigid for a few minutes. He had such a thought that he

scarcely dared consider it himself.

"It's all clear to me now," he said in a low, hoarse voice. "Nat

came aboard to damage the schooner so that he would be sure to

win the second race."

"Code!" The cry was one of involuntary horror as Elsa remembered

the tragedy of the May. Hate Nate though she might, this was an

awful charge to lay at his door.