“Not a man,” said Mr. Duckett.
“At Melbourne,” said the captain, who
was in a hurry to be off, “we all separated,
and Duckett and me worked our way home on a cargo-boat.
We always stick together, Peter and me.”
“And always will,” said Mr. Duckett, with
a little emotion as he gazed meaningly at the captain’s
breast-pocket.
“When I think o’ that little craft lying
all those fathoms down,” continued the captain,
staring full at Mr. Tredgold, “it hurts me.
The nicest little craft of her kind I ever handled.
Well—so long, gentlemen.”
“We shall see you to-morrow,” said Tredgold,
hastily, as the captain rose.
Brisket shook his head.
“Me and Peter are very busy,” he said,
softly. “We’ve been putting our
little bit o’ savings together to buy a schooner,
and we want to settle things as soon as possible.”
“A schooner?” exclaimed Mr. Tredgold,
with an odd look.
Captain Brisket nodded indulgently.
“One o’ the prettiest little craft you
ever saw, gentlemen,” he said,” and, if
you’ve got no objection, me and Peter Duckett
thought o’ calling her the Fair Emily,
in memory of old times. Peter’s a bit sentimental
at times, but I don’t know as I can blame him
for it. Good night.”
He opened the door slowly, and the sentimental Mr.
Duckett, still holding fast to the parcel containing
Mr. Stobell’s old boot, slipped thankfully outside.
Calmly and deliberately Captain Brisket followed,
and the door was closing behind him when it suddenly
stopped, and his red face was thrust into the room
again.
“One thing is,” he said, eyeing the speechless
Tredgold with sly relish, “she’s uncommonly
like the Fair Emily we lost. Good night.”
The door closed with a snap, but Tredgold and Chalk
made no move. Glued to their seats, they stared
blankly at the door, until the rigidity of their pose
and the strangeness of their gaze began to affect the
slower-witted Mr. Stobell.
“Anything wrong?” inquired the astonished
Captain Bowers, looking from one to the other.
There was no reply. Mr. Stobell rose and, after
steadying himself for a moment with his hands on the
table, blundered heavily towards the door. As
though magnetized, Tredgold and Chalk followed and,
standing beside him on the footpath, stared solemnly
up Dialstone Lane.
Captain Brisket and his faithful mate had disappeared.
[Illustration: “They stared solemnly up
Dialstone Lane.”]
