The old ferryman had caught many strange fish in his time, but none so strange as the body he fished out of the harbour on summer evening as the tide was on the turn. To his horror he saw at once that it was Captain Stanlake, the local harbour-master. In the few months that Captain Stanlake had been harbour-master at Brenthithe he had made himself a confounded nuisance to everyone. It was perhaps not his fault, but was mainly due to his keen desire to make Brenthithe an industrial port rather than a sea-side resort. He had made many enemies in this local feud, but would anyone go so far as murder—for foul play it certainly was.