“What do you mean, sir?” cried my father haughtily.
“Well, look here, sir,” cried the officer moderating his tone. “You’ve brought us here on a fool’s errand. Where’s this cargo that you saw landed?”
“How can I tell, sir? You appealed to me as an officer to show you where it was landed. It was here. The men were going in and out of that cave for two or three hours.”
“Then there must be an inner place,” cried the lieutenant, stamping his foot with rage. “Come and search again, my lads.”
They disappeared for another ten minutes or so, and then came back with the officer fuming with passion.
“Fooled!” he exclaimed aloud, “fooled! Here, back to the boat.”
Everybody embarked again, and the boat was rowed back in silence to the Gap, where we landed, and the lieutenant stepped out afterwards leaving his men afloat.
“Now, then, Captain Duncan,” he said, “before I go let me tell you that I shall report your conduct at headquarters. I consider that I have been fooled, sir, fooled.”
“I had thought of doing the same by you, sir,” retorted my father coldly; “but I do not think it worth while to quarrel with an angry disappointed man, nor yet to take further notice of your hasty words.”
“What do you mean, sir? What do you mean?” blustered the lieutenant.