"I beg your pardon?" answered Murray.
"We have something to tell you," I said. "It can not wait."
His eyes plumbed mine, and I think he knew in that instant what our news was. He clicked open his snuff-box and dusted a pinch delicately into his nostrils.
"So?" he murmured. "Sets the wind in that quarter!"
And he offered Moira his arm with the fine, stately dignity he achieved to perfection, and led the way aft to the main cabin.
"You may place the viands upon the table, Gunn," he said to the steward when we were seated. "We will serve ourselves."
He turned to Moira.
"I recommend this fish. 'Tis fresh-caught, and Scipio—" the remaining blackamoor—"is a master at such dishes; he hath stuffed it, you see, with greens he procured from the woods."
"We have scant time to eat, let alone to admire our food," I interposed roughly. "From the peak of the Spyglass at sunset we sighted the tops'ls of a ship in the east."
"I presume that you believe her to be the Walrus?" he returned.