"Just what a couple of other witnesses have told me," he said.
"Submarines?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"The odds against a torpedo sending a ship straight up like that are
enormous. And one would have heard two explosions--which nobody did.
Besides, the one man who was picked up has luckily been able to talk a
little already. I am certain there was no torpedo attack."
"She simply blew up then?"
"That was it."
"Accident or design?"
"God knows! Perhaps no one else ever will. It may have merely been the
ammunition. As you know, that has happened before now. But it's a very
curious coincidence that it should have happened off Ransay, knowing what
we know. I hear a lot of the men were ashore buying things. I wonder what
they brought aboard with them!"
"I can tell you what one lot brought: eggs, poultry, cheeses, and a large
parcel in newspaper which I took to be butter. But that was only one
party I happened to see. They were all over the island."
He thought in silence for a few moments, and then he glanced at
his watch.
"Look here, old chap," he said, "I'm afraid I must be getting off again
now. Walk back with me as far as it's safe and I'll tell you something
that you must know. We can discuss the evidence later, when a little more
has been collected. The point that concerns you is that Bolton has been
sent for again.
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