It happened I had in my desk copies of the Mail for the past week.

You will understand why.
I rose, found those papers, and began to read.

It was then that I made the astounding discovery to which I have alluded.
For a time after making it I was dumb with amazement, so that no course of action came readily to mind.

In the end I decided that the thing for me to do was to wait for Bray's return in the morning and then point out to him the error he had made in ignoring the Mail.
Bray came in about eight o'clock and a few minutes later I heard another man ascend the stairs.

I was shaving at the time, but I quickly completed the operation and, slipping on a bathrobe, hurried up to the captain's rooms.