“Nothing to grumble at, sir. We had pretty hard work the first two days, but, thanks to your son, we now have a quiet day of it.”
Rex uttered a sharp warning ejaculation as Robinson spoke, but he had not thought of telling him that he and his companions wished nothing to be said about the adventure.
“Thanks to my son!” Mr. Bateman repeated in surprise; “what can Rex have had to do with it?”
The midshipman, who had too late heard Rexʼs ejaculation, hesitated.
“I did not know that he had not told you, sir,” he said, “or else you may be sure I should have said nothing about it.”
“Well, but what was it?” he asked.
The midshipman looked appealingly at Rex, and the latter said: “Well, Father, it was a little enterprise that Watson and Laurence and I carried out on our own account; nothing worth talking about.”
“Well, but what was it, Rex?” his father persisted. “Mr. Robinson says that it has given him better times.”
“Well, Father, the fact is, we three and Ah Lo went out and silenced those two guns that were so annoying for some days.”
“Well, but how did you do it, Rex? Now we know so much, of course we want to know the rest. What do you know about it, Mr. Robinson?”