The boats of the Wanderer took the place at the landing-stage vacated by the boats of the Sea-mew.  A burst of cheering among the outer ranks of the crowd announced the arrival of the commander of the expedition on the scene.  Captain Helding appeared, looking right and left for his first lieutenant.  Finding Crayford with his wife, the captain made his apologies for interfering, with his best grace.

“Give him up to his professional duties for one minute, Mrs. Crayford, and you shall have him back again for half an hour.  The Arctic expedition is to blame, my dear lady—­not the captain—­for parting man and wife.  In Crayford’s place, I should have left it to the bachelors to find the Northwest Passage, and have stopped at home with you!”

Excusing himself in those bluntly complimentary terms, Captain Helding drew the lieutenant aside a few steps, accidentally taking a direction that led the two officers close to the place at which Clara was standing.  Both the captain and the lieutenant were too completely absorbed in their professional business to notice her.  Neither the one nor the other had the faintest suspicion that she could and did hear every word of the talk that passed between them.

“You received my note this morning?” the captain began.

“Certainly, Captain Helding, or I should have been on board the ship before this.”

“I am going on board myself at once,” the captain proceeded, “but I must ask you to keep your boat waiting for half an hour more.  You will be all the longer with your wife, you know.  I thought of that, Crayford.”

“I am much obliged to you, Captain Helding.  I suppose there is some other reason for inverting the customary order of things, and keeping the lieutenant on shore after the captain is on board?”

“Quite true! there is another reason.  I want you to wait for a volunteer who has just joined us.”

“A volunteer!”

“Yes.  He has his outfit to get in a hurry, and he may be half an hour late.”

“It’s rather a sudden appointment, isn’t it?”

“No doubt.  Very sudden.”

“And—­pardon me—­it’s rather a long time (as we are situated) to keep the ships waiting for one man?”

“Quite true, again.  But a man who is worth having is worth waiting for.  This man is worth having; this man is worth his weight in gold to such an expedition as ours.  Seasoned to all climates and all fatigues—­a strong fellow, a brave fellow, a clever fellow—­in short, an excellent officer.  I know him well, or I should never have taken him.  The country gets plenty of work out of my new volunteer, Crayford.  He only returned yesterday from foreign service.”

“He only returned yesterday from foreign service!  And he volunteers this morning to join the Arctic expedition?  You astonish me.”