"Lydstone? Don't you know? He—" But why should she tell him? It would only distress him greatly, and, in his present precarious condition, he should be spared all kind of emotion. With this idea she had begged Captain Trejago to say nothing as yet of the sad end of his noble owner.
"Will it not be best to get the general down to Scutari?" she asked the doctor.
"In a day or two, yes. When he has recovered the shaking of the move on board."
"The captain wanted to know. He has no wish to go inside the harbour, as it is so crowded; but he would not like to remain long off this coast. It might be dangerous, he says."
"A lee-shore, you know," added Captain Trejago, for himself. "Look at those straight cliffs; fancy our grinding on to them, with a southerly, or rather a south-westerly, gale!"
"Is there any immediate prospect of bad weather?" asked McKay. He and the sailing-master were by this time pretty good friends.
"I don't much like the look of the glass. It's rather jumpy; if anything, inclined to go back."
"What should you do if it came on dirty?" the skipper was asked.
"Up stick, and run out to get an offing. It would be our only chance, with this coast to leeward."
Three or four days later the skipper came with a long face to the doctor.