The boss of the yacht Sunshine walked forward, where he found the second officer superintending the cleaning of brasswork.
"Where's that swimming party of ours?" asked Bill, carelessly.
"Now, there's a question you might well ask, sir," said the second officer. "Where aren't they? Seems to me they've been all over the harbor, sir, as far as I can make out. Never saw anything like it."
"Is there any boat following them?"
"Boat, sir?" The second officer laughed. "I don't know what they'd be doing with a boat. The last time I saw them they looked as if they were fit to swim to Europe. And the young lady, sir!"
He made what was intended to be an eloquent gesture.
"What about the young lady?"
"A fish, sir; a fish, if ever one lived. First off they did a lot of playing around the yacht, sir. Climbing aboard and diving off again. I give you my word, sir, the whole crew was on deck watching. The young lady—well, she's a little thing, but she's nicely set up, sir. She'd think nothing of making a back dive off the end of the bridge. And the young gentleman was no ways behind her, sir. You'd think there was a couple of porpoises in the harbor."
Bill's soul was growing blacker and blacker.
"I've seen swimmers in my time, but never the beat of that pair, unless it was professionals," added the second officer, in a musing tone.