He decided, therefore, to return to the cable office about midnight
and await the reply to his cablegram. He had proceeded but a few
blocks from the cable office, however, before a disturbing thought
struck him with such force as to bring him to an abrupt pause.

_His owners had cabled him in care of von Staden & Ulrich, when in the
telegram sent just before sailing from Norfolk he had instructed them
to cable him in care of the American consul._ Murphy's native
shrewdness had made him suspicious of von Staden the instant the
latter had so nonchalantly offered him a bribe of five thousand
dollars, for the proffer of a bribe of that magnitude, without any
preliminary bargaining, did not co-ordinate with Michael's idea of
business. Certainly if the charterers had his owners "fixed," five
thousand dollars was too much money to give their captain,
particularly since there were available any number of capable rascals
eager to do the job for twenty-five hundred, and the devil take the
consequences.

At the time von Staden had handed him the two cablegrams from the Blue
Star Navigation Company, no suspicion that they were forgeries had
entered the captain's mind; indeed, Matt Peasley's cablegram to him
appeared at first blush to be an answer to the telegram which Murphy
had sent his owners from Norfolk. In that telegram Murphy had
mentioned his suspicions and hinted at unwarranted risks and the
possibility of the circumstances attending the delivery of his cargo
forcing his resignation. Matt's cablegram handed him by von Staden
urged him to remain in the ship and assured him there were no risks;
that if there were, the charterers assumed them. For the nonce,
therefore, the master's mind did not dwell on any doubts as to the
genuineness of the orders he had received, even though he decided