I sat down on the stool, staring about the compartment, realizing suddenly how well fortune had served my cause--the chance to impersonate the drunken sailor; the meeting with Watkins, my chance words to Estada on deck, and now this translation from forecastle to cabin.

It had all occurred so quickly, almost without effort on my part, I could do little but wonder what strange occurrence would be next.

What, indeed, was there for me to do except to await developments?
Only one thing occurred to me--I must discover some means immediately of communicating with Dorothy Fairfax.
The importance of this could not be overestimated.

With myself quartered aft, and eating in the cabin, we were bound to meet sooner or later; and the girl must previously be warned of my presence aboard, or in her first surprise at the recognition, I should be instantly betrayed.

Nothing would escape Estada, and the slightest evidence that we two had formerly met, would awaken his suspicion.