[Chapter XVIII]
Luck for Ted and Louise
Linda and Dot stood still on the deck of the old boat, grasping the rail with their hands, and looking intently at their rescuer. He was a typical old seaman, with tanned, roughened face, a gray beard, and kindly blue eyes.
"That was a narrow escape," he remarked. "What do you girls mean by going out on a rough sea like this, in a shell like you had?"
"We couldn't help it," Linda replied. "And we thought the boat was safe. We didn't know it was going to spring a leak.... Would it take very long to run us to the coast, Mr.—Captain——?"
"Smallweed," supplied the man. "And everybody calls me 'Cap'n'."
"Well, would it, Captain Smallweed?" repeated Linda, amused at the name. He ought to be at home on the island they had just come from, she thought—there were so many "small weeds" growing there!
"Too long fer me to stop," he replied, to the girls' dismay. "I got to get back to my family, in Havana." His blue eyes twinkled. "Why? What have you girls got in that bag, that's so important to deliver in a hurry?"
"You think we're boot-leggers!" laughed Dot. "Don't you, Captain?"