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the precaution of supplying himself with it before pushing off. In the
act of consigning the corpse to the water, he would unquestionably have
noticed his oversight; but then no remedy would have been at hand.
Any risk would have been preferred to a return to that accursed shore.
Having rid himself of his ghastly charge, the murderer would have
hastened to the city. There, at some obscure wharf, he would have leaped
on land. But the boat--would he have secured it? He would have been
in too great haste for such things as securing a boat. Moreover, in
fastening it to the wharf, he would have felt as if securing evidence
against himself. His natural thought would have been to cast from him,
as far as possible, all that had held connection with his crime. He
would not only have fled from the wharf, but he would not have permitted
the boat to remain. Assuredly he would have cast it adrift. Let us
pursue our fancies.--In the morning, the wretch is stricken with
unutterable horror at finding that the boat has been picked up and
detained at a locality which he is in the daily habit of frequenting
-
-at a locality, perhaps, which his duty compels him to frequent. The
next night, without daring to ask for the rudder, he removes it. Now
where is that rudderless boat? Let it be one of our first purposes
to discover. With the first glimpse we obtain of it, the dawn of our
success shall begin. This boat shall guide us, with a rapidity which
will surprise even ourselves, to him who employed it in the midnight of
the fatal Sabbath. Corroboration will rise upon corroboration, and the
murderer will be traced."
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