So he took me to a room full of officers and they asked me a thousand fool questions.

Said they had no record of a Belgian named Maurie and had never heard of him before.

I couldn't figure the thing out, and they couldn't; so finally they let me come back to the ship." "Strange," mused Uncle John; "very strange!" "I was so stupid," continued Carg, "that I never thought of Elbl being at the bottom of the affair until I got back and found our launch missing.

Then I remembered that Elbl was to have been turned over to the prison authorities to-morrow and like a flash I saw through the whole thing." "I'm blamed if _I_ do," declared Mr.Merrick.
The others likewise shook their heads.
"He got me out of the way, stole the launch, and is half way to Ostend by this time." "Alone?
And wounded--still an invalid ?" "Doubtless Maurie is with him.

The rascal can run an automobile; so I suppose he can run a launch." "What puzzles me," remarked Patsy, "is how Lieutenant Elbl ever got hold of Maurie, and induced him to assist him, without our knowing anything about it." "I used to notice them talking together a good bit," said Jones.
"But Clarette has kept Maurie a prisoner.