"Why, yes—for all I know to the contrary," I answered in some little surprise. "Why shouldn't it be quiet?"
For a moment Van Dyck seemed embarrassed. And his explanation, when he made it, was half halting.
"There has been some little trouble with—er—the crew, you know. Quite likely you haven't seen any signs of it. I—I've been trying to keep it under cover as well as I could."
"Trouble?—of what sort?" I demanded.
"Why—er—the only kind one ever has with a crew; something like a threatened mutiny, I believe."
I laughed aloud.
"A mutiny on a private yacht? Why, heavens and earth—your men don't have anything to do but to draw their pay and their breath!"
"I know; that is the way it would appear. But there is something behind—something you don't understand. If I should tell you that the Andromeda left New York with a quarter of a million dollars in her hold——"
"What's that?" I ejaculated, shocked into sudden and lively attention.
"You must forgive me, Dick, if I don't go into the particulars," he went on hastily. "I might say, with a good degree of truth, that it isn't altogether my own secret. But—but the fact remains."