"What do you make of it ?" Hanaud smiled and shook his head.
"Did you ever go for a voyage on a ship ?" he asked.
"Yes; why ?" "Because every day at noon three officers take an observation to determine the ship's position--the captain, the first officer, and the second officer.

Each writes his observation down, and the captain takes the three observations and compares them.

If the first or second officer is out in his reckoning, the captain tells him so, but he does not show his own.

For at times, no doubt, he is wrong too.

So, gentlemen, I criticise your observations, but I do not show you mine." He took up Ricardo's paper and read it through again.
"Yes," he said pleasantly.