CHAPTER 7Captain Murdock’s kitchen was very still when I entered it again. Its stillness was more than a contrast with the noise of the night outside. When I closed the door, I remember that it seemed to have the same shocked silence of Eliphalet Greer’s own dwelling. She was at the window when I came in, looking out at the black, and when she turned to face me, she looked tired and white.
“Is—is he gone?” she asked.
“He’s gone. I saw him go,” I said.
The excitement which had been with me till then seemed to have blown away with the wind outside. My feet felt heavy. My hands were cold and sodden with the rain.
“I——” Her voice faltered. “I never knew it would be like that.”
We stood looking at each other in a strange, impassive way.
“Was it true?” she asked. “Was it true what you told
