"So far as I know. They had screwed bolts on the door."
"Not seriously; but they struck him on the head."
"I can guess--a man named Radwig and another named Schultz."
"Doctor!" exclaimed Bill, "you have heard what this man has said. Can you leave him long enough to go with me to Captain Jameson?"
"Gladly, my boy. But of all extraordinary tales----"
"It is true, upon my word of honor," groaned the injured man. "The number of the cabin is 14. The chief steward has the keys. I stole them from his desk to open the stateroom and placed them back again without his knowledge."
"And just to think," muttered Bill, as he and the doctor hastened from the injured man's side, "that if it had not been for that accident we'd never have known a thing about poor old Jack's plight till too late. After all, that feeling I had was correct."
Captain Jameson summoned the chief steward as soon as he had heard Bill's story and together the commander, and the others, hastened through the maze of corridors leading to stateroom 14. Theirs were the voices the boy had heard, and in ten minutes' time he was wringing Bill's hand and telling, to an indignant group, the story of Radwig's outrage.
The captain's indignation knew no bounds.
"I'll have those rascals in irons before we drop anchor!" he exclaimed. "We are nearing Southampton now and if that man had not met with his accident they might have landed and escaped scot free."
Jack was weakened by his trying experience, but he was not too exhausted not to be able to accompany the officer to Radwig's cabin. A knock on the door brought an immediate answer:
"Keep back," whispered the captain to Jack, "I want to see how far these rascals will incriminate themselves."
Accordingly, Jack and the others kept out of sight as the door was opened and Captain Jameson stepped inside, but as the portal was left ajar, they could hear what went on within.
"You know my friend, Mr. Ewing," said Radwig, in oily tones, indicating Schultz, who, it will be recalled, had adopted that alias, and who was seated in Radwig's cabin engaged over a valise full of papers.
The captain bowed his acknowledgment of the introduction.
"And to what am I to attribute the honor of this visit?" said Radwig. "Possibly something connected with the formalities of landing? I am informed we shall be in harbor in a short time now."