“Yes, I see now, sir, and I beg your pardon,” said the midshipman.
“We understand one another, Murray, and—Ah, here is the first luff doing just what I wanted him to do.”
For that officer had gathered his men together in the shade of a clump of trees where the moving branches blew from off the river in a breeze that was untainted by the miasma of the marshy ground and the horrors of the village, for it brought with it the odour of the floating seaweed and old ocean’s health-giving salts.
By this time one of the boats was despatched, and the lieutenant joined the pair.
“Ah, Mr Murray, you have lost your chance. I was going to send you to the captain for instructions, but you were busy with the doctor, so I sent Mr Roberts.—Giving him a lecture on the preservation of health, doctor?”
“Just a few hints,” said that gentleman, smiling. “We were taking opposite views, but I think Murray agrees with me now.”