A flight of steps ascended to the top of the embankment at the station of the little town. The Maud passed close to them on her way to her berth for the night. Abreast of them the Arab on the forecastle leaped ashore, but made a gesture as though the movement had given him pain. He went up the steps and disappeared.
"Who was that man, Knott?" asked the captain when the seaman came on board of the ship.
"I don't know, sir; I called upon him to give an account of himself as we were crossing Lake Timsah; but he could not understand me, pointed to his mouth, and shook his head, meaning that he could not speak English. He did not do any harm, so I let him alone; for Don was running the engine, and I did not like to call him from his duty. He kept his face covered up with a sort of veil, and would not say anything. I thought I would let him alone till we came to a stopping-place, and I could report to you."
"When did he go on board of the Maud?" asked the captain.
"I don't know, sir. The first time I saw him was on the lake. Spinner had the wheel, Don was in the engine-room, and the rest of the ship's company were on the upper deck looking at the sights. I inquired, but no one had seen him."
"I don't think I ever did, sir. He had on what looked like a new suit of Arab togs, and he kept his face covered up, as I said."
If Captain Ringgold was not troubled, he was perplexed. He had observed the stranger distinctly as he went up the steps, but he could not identify him as a person he had ever seen before. Of course it came into his head at once that the tall Arab was Captain Mazagan, and he said as much to Scott.
"We left him at the hotel at Port Said; how could he be here?" asked the captain of the Maud.
"He must have smuggled himself on board of the little steamer when we were at Ismaïlia; for he was first seen out in the lake."
"How could he have been at Ismaïlia?" Scott inquired.
The commander went to his cabin, and looked over his "Bradshaw," in which he found that a steamer left Port Said at seven o'clock every morning, and arrived at Ismaïlia at noon. It was possible that Mazagan had come by this conveyance; and he gave Scott the information.
"Probably he stopped at the station while we were on board of the Ophir, or your party had gone to the town," said the commander. "It was easy enough for him to stow himself away in the cabin of the Maud while no one but Philip was on board of her."