"Oh, are you all right?" she asked anxiously, for she and her sister, as well as Mr. DeVere, had taken a liking to Jepson. "Are you all right?"

"All right, Miss Alice," he replied. "No harm done at all."

"I thought sailors never fell overboard," she said, half jokingly. "I supposed they were so sure-footed that accidents like that never happened to them."

"They don't--not usual like, Miss," said Jack with that earnest, honest air that characterized him.

"Then how did you come to do it?"

"I--I didn't do it, Miss," Jack answered. "I didn't _fall_ overboard."

"You didn't?" cried Alice, not noticing the accent Jepson put on one word.

"No, Miss. Not exactly."

He looked around as though to make sure no one was listening, and then, in a hoa.r.s.e whisper, he said:

"I didn't _fall_ overboard. I was _tossed_!"

Then, before she could ask him what he meant, he gave her a warning glance, and pa.s.sed on. Just as he did so, Captain Brisco came along the pa.s.sage way.

"I was just coming down to see how you were," he said, with a quick look at Alice. "I didn't know you were here, Miss DeVere," he continued, rather awkwardly. "Hope the accident didn't upset you."

"Oh no," she said, glad that it was rather dark, and that the commander could not notice how pale she had become at hearing the ominous words of the old sailor.

"Accidents will happen, but they don't always end so luckily," the captain went on. Jack Jepson had pa.s.sed up on deck, and Alice, not feeling in the mood for talking, pa.s.sed to her cabin. Captain Brisco, after a moment of hesitation, went up on deck again, and, had anyone observed him, they would have seen him in close conversation with Hen Lacomb. The two men spoke in low tones.

Jack Jepson was soon himself again, and on duty as though nothing had happened. But he had created a very queer state of mind in Alice DeVere.

Her suspicious were increased, and she asked herself a mult.i.tude of questions she could not answer. Nor dared she repeat them, even to her sister.

"If he were tossed overboard, who did it?" she asked herself. "And why?

The only one near him was Lacomb, and what object could he have in wanting to drown Jack? Oh, I can't understand it! I _must_ ask Jack what he meant."

This was not so easy to do as Alice had expected. She wanted to speak to the old sailor privately, but there was no chance.

That afternoon there began the taking of some of the more important scenes of the marine drama. These scenes were those that had to be filmed on the ship itself, and they kept everyone busy. Besides, Alice did not want to make too obvious an effort to talk to the old salt, as she feared Captain Brisco would become suspicious. There was a nameless mystery in the air that had its effect on Alice. Ruth noticed a difference in her sister, and questioned her about it, but Alice was able to say it was due to the difficult and exacting work of the new drama, and, in part, it was.

Several days pa.s.sed, and she had had no chance to speak to Jack. Each day was filled with work, or rehearsals, and some of the films had to be taken several times, due to the uncertain footing on the deck of the ship, which produced awkward motions on the part of the actors.

It was on a warm afternoon, with a hint of a storm in the atmosphere, when Mr. Pertell said:

"Well, I guess that will do for a while. This will pretty nearly bring us up to the shipwreck scene. We shall have to make a landing on one of the islands here, to get the proper background."

They were then well down among the West Indies.

"Where do we land?" asked Alice, who was on deck with her sister, standing near Jack Jepson, who was acting as lookout, with a telescope in his hand.

"Well, I'm not particular," Mr. Pertell said. "Perhaps Jack can suggest a good place."

"Well, I know something about the locality here," the old sailor answered, and he looked at Alice with a friendly wink. "I shouldn't want to go ash.o.r.e at the place where I escaped from after that mutiny," he went on. "They might not want to let me go again."

"No, that's so," agreed Mr. Pertell. "It might not be just the thing, though you could prove your innocence."

"No, I can't! That's the trouble!" cried Jack, who had told his story to the manager. "I don't want to be caught, and put in jail. I'm going to keep away from that island where I was locked up."

"Which one was it?" asked Ruth.

"I don't know the name," Jack said, "but I can tell it the minute I set eyes on it. I don't want to go there. I had enough----"

Jack paused suddenly. The gla.s.s went to his eye, and he called out:

"Sail ho!"

"Where away?" demanded the helmsman.

"Two points off on the lee bow. She's a small steamer, and she--she's flying the British flag!" added the old man.

A strange look of fear came over his face.

CHAPTER XVI

THE ACCUSATION

"What's this?" demanded Captain Brisco, coming on deck just then.

"What's up?"

"Sail ho!" repeated Jack Jepson. "Over there, Captain!" and he pointed, and extended the telescope. Alice noticed that the hand of the old salt trembled, though usually he was as steady as the proverbial surgeon.

"Hum! Yes. One of the English revenue ships," remarked Captain Brisco.

"It's the first one we've met down here."

"It is a British vessel, isn't it?" asked Jack Jepson, and there was a queer strain in his voice.

"Yes," replied his superior. "What of it?"

"Oh, nothin' sir! Nothin'."

But Alice thought it was something.

"Well, we haven't any need to speak to her," went on Captain Brisco.

"We're going to anchor soon."

"Anchor?" asked Jepson.