“I think you may count on it,” goes on the Doctor. “Indeed, when I remember in what manner the French came by the Serapis, I cannot see how the king is to refuse.”
“Should I get it, I’ll put Dick Dale in command of the Alliance. There shall be no second Landais you may be sure!”
“Speaking of the Alliance,” returns the Doctor, “I shall send it to America as soon as the overhaul is finished, with certain munitions of war I’ve collected.”
Commodore Paul Jones’ pulse begins to beat uneasily. Antony does not want to leave his Cleopatra. What the Doctor next says, sets him to renewed ease.
“Lieutenant Dale might better take the Alliance across. You will be needed here, if we are to coax the king into giving you the Serapis. There will be time for the Alliance to return before the Serapis is refitted.”
Doctor Franklin tells how he has formally relieved Landais from all command, and ordered him to report to the Marine Committee in Philadelphia, on charges of cowardice and treason. Also, Commissioner Arthur Lee has been called home; Congress has become suspicious of his work.
“The man’s a greater traitor than Landais!” cries Commodore Paul Jones heatedly.
“Without expressing myself on that point,” observes the Doctor, eye a-twinkle, “the situation produced by Mr. Lee’s recall, makes another reason why Dale should sail with the Alliance and you stay here. Mr. Lee, I understand, has decided to take passage home in the Alliance.”
It is the next day; the Duchess summons Commodore Paul Jones to the morning-room, where she sits alone in the spring sunshine.
“Your love is like your ship, my friend,” she observes. “It goes voyaging from heart to heart, as the other does from port to port. No, not a word! I promise that you shall not break my heart. Come, I will show you what makes me safe—safe even from that terrible heart-rover and sea-rover, that buccaneer of the ocean and of love, the invincible Paul Jones.”