“Come, Mr Hume.”
“No, madam; if you assure me, that is sufficient. It will be necessary to pay for the coal in cash.”
“You have some scheme,” she said, looking earnestly at him, and placing her fingers on his arm.
“I have, or, rather, the Captain—”
“Ah, that is better,” said Commins, with a sneer.
“Say no more, Mr Hume; I have faith in the resources and courage of my officers.” She gave him her hand, but her eyes were fixed on Commins.
Frank, somewhat uneasy at what he had witnessed of the familiarity between the two, hurried away with the wine and cigars to presently engage the Lieutenant in pleasant conversation in French.
Seeing the officer comfortably seated in the chart-room with the wine, he went to the side to receive Webster, who had returned in the best of humours with a boat-load of bananas, custard apples, grapes, vegetables, and fresh meat.
“I have left the engineer ashore, drinking Madeira with an old crony,” shouted the genial officer.
“Good,” said Frank, raising his voice. “I’ll ask the Captain to let me return for him later on. Well,” he whispered a moment later, as Webster stepped on board, “what about the barges?”