"Has any one approached you directly about these things?" Captain Whidden
asked when I was through.
"No, sir."
"Have you heard any one say just what this little group is trying to
accomplish, or just when it is going to act?"
"No, sir."
"Do you, Lathrop, know anything about the cargo of the Island Princess? Or
anything about the terms under which it is carried?"
"Only in a general way, sir, that it is made up of ginseng and woolen goods
shipped to Canton."
Captain Whidden looked at me very sharply indeed. "You are positive that
that is all you know?"
"Yes, sir--except, in a general way, that the cargo is uncommonly
important."
The three men exchanged glances, and Roger Hamlin nodded as if to
corroborate my reply.
"Lathrop," Captain Whidden began again, "I want you to say nothing about
this interview after you leave the cabin. It is more important that you
hold your peace than you may ever realize--than, I trust, you ever _will_
realize. I am going to ask you to give me your word of honor to that
effect."
It seemed to me then that I saw Captain Whidden in a new light. We of the
younger generation had inclined to belittle him because he continued to
follow the sea at an age when more successful men had established their
counting-houses or had retired from active business altogether.
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