What did you mean?"
"Well, as I said, the work of the harbour squad isn't ordinarily
very remarkable. Harbour pirates aren't murderous as a rule any
more. For the most part they are plain sneak thieves or bogus junk
dealers who work with dishonest pier watchmen and crooked canal
boat captains and lighter hands.
"But in this instance," continued the deputy, his face knitting at
the thought that he had to confess another mystery to which he had
no solution, "it is something quite different. You know that all
along the shore on this side of the island are old, dilapidated
and, some of them, deserted houses. For several days the residents
of the neighbourhood have been complaining of strange occurrences
about one place in particular which was the home of a wealthy
family in a past generation. It is about a mile from here, facing
the road along the shore, and has in front of it and across the
road the remains of an old dock sticking out a few feet into the
water at high tide.
"Now, as nearly as any one can get the story, there seems to have
been a mysterious, phantom boat, very swift, without lights, and
with an engine carefully muffled down which has been coming up to
the old dock for the past few nights when the tide was high
enough.
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