“Most likely, sir,” was the cheerful reply. “They’ll be wanting to bring us the bill for damages. I’m thinking it would be the safest thing to try and drop down by ’em after dusk. This part begins to be rather unsafe.”
He looked at Sir Humphrey as he spoke, and the latter turned to his brother.
“Well, I don’t know, captain,” he said: “the wind holds good, and we seem to have passed the danger. I don’t like to give up yet. What do you say, Mr Briscoe?”
“I think it would be a hundred pities,” was the quick reply. “The country is getting more and more attractive. Who knows what we may discover, eh, Brace?”
“I feel exactly as you do, and think we should proceed,” said the latter quickly.
“We’ve got whole skins now,” said the captain dubiously, “all but one of us.”
“You think it running too much risk to go on?” said Sir Humphrey.
“Well, I can’t say that, sir,” was the reply, “because we may sail on for weeks and weeks and not see another Indian, while if we go back we are sure to see some.”
“Exactly,” said Sir Humphrey; “but I can’t help thinking that we are getting now into a more uninhabited part of the country, perhaps where travellers have never been before.”
“Then I say let’s go on,” said Briscoe, “and we may find El Dorado, after all.”