“Good-by, then,” she called, in a stifled voice, and hurried off along the street.
Jordan and Coleman went on to the house where the captain had been taken, accompanying Bob and Cassidy. The mate was going to present himself frankly before the captain, acknowledge his fault, and then abide by the full consequences. But fate decreed that the matter should turn out otherwise.
The captain, as it chanced, was very much worse and was unable to recognize any one. The doctor averred that the case was not serious, and that, with good nursing, Captain Nemo, junior, would pull through all right.
“If he wants a nurse, doctor,” said Cassidy, “then it’s up to me. I took care of him in New Orleans, the time he was sick there, and I guess I can do it now better than any one else.”
“Then pull off your coat,” said the doctor, “and go up to his room.”
All this was as it should be. For the present, the Grampus was still under Bob’s care, and he started back toward the wharf to secure a sailboat and return to the submarine.
Jordan and Coleman accompanied him part way, then left him to telegraph their report of recent events to Washington.
“We’re going to handle you and the Grampus without gloves in that report,” declared Jordan, with a wink.
“Just so you please the government and make the navy department take the submarine off the captain’s hands,” returned Bob, “that’s all I care.”