He could see from his shoulder straps that he was an ensign, and the officers in the waist and on the forecastle were of the same rank.

If there were any other passengers on board of the vessel who were commissioned officers, they were not visible on the deck, though they might be in their staterooms, arranging their affairs for the voyage.
The young lieutenant leaned against the rail, and gave himself up to the consideration of what had occurred since he came on board.

He had been bewildered by one mystery the night before, and he could not help asking himself if the conduct of Walsh had anything to do with the visit of the intruder at Bonnydale.

He could not trace out any connection between the two events; but, on the other hand, he was unable to satisfy himself that the mysterious visit, the sudden disappearance of the man-servant, and the denial of his identity by the latter, were not in some manner related to each other.
He had no premises on which to base an argument for or against one thing or another.

All was dark to him, and he could not get hold of anything.
After he had raised up a variety of suppositions, and combated vigorously with them, the darkness seemed only to become more dense, and he was compelled to abandon the subject without arriving at any reasonable explanation.