Solution—Alibi

In a dead calm Werner’s flag would have hung limp against the mast and the Luella’s captain could not possibly have seen at such distance whether or not it was upside down. There was another, though minor, flaw in Werner’s account. While the International distress signal is a flag flown upside down, it is by custom and regulation flown at half-mast.

* * * *

HOW HAPPY HE WHO CAN STILL HOPE TO LIFT HIMSELF FROM THIS SEA OF ERROR.

—Gootfie