If the mizzen is too much for her, we can take it off." It was nearly half an hour before all was clear, and the last of the yachts in the race had passed them before the leeward sheet of the foresail was hauled aft, and the Phantom resumed her course.

As soon as she did so, the captain came aft with part of the copper bar of the bobstay.
"There has been foul play, sir," he said.

"I thought there must have been, for I could not imagine that this bar would have broken unless there had been a flaw in the metal or it had been tampered with.

I unshackled it myself, for I thought it was better that the men should not see it until I had told you about it." "Quite right, Hawkins.

Yes, there is no doubt that there has been foul play.