“You will do nothing of the sort,” Geraldine insisted. “Ralph would be furious if you didn’t come with us.”
“Of course!” Olive interposed. “How could you think of anything so ridiculous! It’s entirely owing to you that we were able to get here.”
Captain Granet looked for a moment doubtful.
“You see, just now,” he explained, “I know the regulations for visiting ships in commission are very strict. Perhaps an extra visitor might embarrass your brother.”
“How can you be so absurd!” Geraldine protested. “You—a soldier! Why, of course he’d be delighted to have you.”
Granet swung the car around into the archway of a hotel exactly opposite the dock.
“All right,” he agreed. “We’ll leave the car here. Of course, I’d like to come all right.”
They crossed the cobbled street and made their way to the dock. The pinnace was waiting for them and in a very few minutes they were on their way across the harbour. The Scorpion was lying well away from other craft, her four squat funnels emitting faint wreaths of smoke. She rode very low in the water and her appearance was certainly menacing.
“Personally,” Geraldine observed, leaning a little forward to look at her, “I think a destroyer is one of the most vicious, the most hideous things I ever saw. I do hope that Ralph will be quick and get a cruiser.”
“Is that the Scorpion just ahead of us?” Granet asked.