Helm broke off the game and went to his quarters rather early for him, leaving the Governor alone and in a bad temper, because Farnsworth, when he had sent for him, could not be found.

Three times his orderly returned in as many hours with the same report; the Captain had not been seen or heard of.

Naturally this sudden and complete disappearance, immediately after the reprimand, suggested to Hamilton an unpleasant possibility.

What if Farnsworth had deserted him?
Down deep in his heart he was conscious that the young man had good cause for almost any desperate action.

To lose Captain Farnsworth, however, would be just now a calamity.