[48]

“What do you think about it yourself?”

“I’m blessed if I know what to think! You’ve got me all tangled up, if anybody should ask you. Tell me what you think?”

“Well, Max, my profession is a strange one. I go my ways by signs. Family characteristics and personal attributes, as applied to identification, is one of my hobbies. I don’t intend, at the present moment, to cast any unkind insinuation upon your guest; but, all the same, while I am looking for this pirate, I shall also look up the family traits, characteristics, and personal attributes of Jean, Compte de Cadillac.”

[49]

[49]

CHAPTER V. THE MARK OF THE ROVER’S KEEL.

THE MARK OF THE ROVER’S KEEL.

Kane remained like a statue in his chair, staring at the detective. The suggestions thrown out by Nick Carter concerning Count Cadillac paralyzed him, so to speak. He was appalled by it, and—he could not bring himself to the belief that there was anything in it more than that strange circumstance which he had described in the beginning as circumstance. And yet, all the while, he was forced to admit to himself that there were suspicious circumstances.

Suddenly, without a word of his intention, but being already garbed in his bathing-suit, he kicked off the sandals he wore, leaped to his feet, reached the side of the yacht with one bound, and dived into the water.

Just as he poised on the rail, he shouted to the detective to “come on,” and so he had scarcely disappeared in the water before Nick was after him. But when Nick Carter dived he did not come immediately to the surface, as did Maxwell Kane. The moment he was underneath the surface he turned toward the bow of the yacht, and, continuing under the water, he passed under the vessel’s bow to the port side before coming to the top again for air.

After a moment he heard Kane calling, and, not wishing to frighten his host, he answered.

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