Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/276

Rh to the fact that he booked first class, but we know, from the clearly declared peculiarity and fastidiousness of Mr. Manling, that he would not have consented to come except first class.

"It is safe to say, then, that he is here in the salon with us, free and entirely unsuspected."

Three fourths of the occupants of the salon now lifted themselves from their seats, and the nervous laughter and whispering became general.

"Appreciating then," the commander continued, "that we have on board—unsuspected and as one of us—a man who successfully relieved two gentlemen in one cabin of almost every article of value, including a very considerable sum of money, without awaking either or leaving a clue; and considering also that he must have forced the lock of one of the ladies' cabins and chloroformed the occupant, while he removed the stone-bag she wore about her neck and even slipped two rings from her fingers; and considering also that Manling, the remarkable cathedral-town thief who 250