From the ground he could make nothing of it, but a ladder led to the top.

An hour on the Holden lot had made him bold.

He mounted the ladder and stood on the deck of what he saw was a sea-going yacht.
Three important-looking men were surveying the deckhouse forward.

They glanced at the newcomer but with a cheering absence of curiosity or even of interest.

He sauntered past them with a polite but not-too-keen interest.