“Bah! you go blundering about looking inside instead of where you’re steering,” cried the Captain. “Aren’t drowned, I suppose?”
Nic laughed.
“Well, slip in and get on some dry things. Look alive.”
Nic did not want to enter into the business through which he had passed, so he hurried indoors, glad to change his clothes.
Then, as the time went on he felt less and less disposed to speak about his adventure, for it seemed hard work to make an effort to punish the man who had, after all, saved his life.
About a fortnight had passed, when one morning, upon going down, he encountered his father’s old sailor-servant, who answered his salute with a grin.
“What are you laughing at, Bill?” asked Nic.
“They’ve been at it again, sir.”
“What! those scoundrels after the salmon?”
“Yes, sir; in the night. Didn’t you hear ’em?”