Pagina 194 de 416

"Must be in the bait," he told Ellinwood. "The fish wouldn't

touch it. This is no catch for five shots of trawl."

But Pete could not cast any light on the subject.

It was certainly true that the catch from the trawl-line was

small enough to be remarkable, but the men were helpless to

explain the reason.

For two hours they worked along the great line.

"There's a bare chance that the message from the unknown schooner

might be a fake, although I can't imagine why," said Code as they

were returning. "But if it is not, and the Canadian gunboat comes

after me, she'll find me here, willing to go back to St. Andrew's

and answer all charges. No escape and no dodging this time! And

let me tell you something, Pete. If nothing comes out of this

except ugly rumor that I have to suffer for, I'm going to quit

minding my own business; and I'll dig up something that will

drive Nat Burns out of Freekirk Head forever.