“Well done, Master Aleck!” shouted the gardener.
“Silence, sir,” said the captain, sternly. “Go on, Aleck.”
“I’ve no more to say, uncle,” replied the lad, “only that I’m not going to lead people to take and press men by force for sailors. Besides, the lieutenant does not need showing—he has been to the men’s cottages, and taken some of them.”
“To be sure,” said the officer, good-humouredly; “and I don’t want to be hard on you. It is not the thing to ask a gentleman to do. But please understand, sir, that I am not seeking for men to press now, but to find my brother officer who is missing. Can you help me in that?”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” said Aleck, frankly; “but I will do all I can.”
“Thank you; that’s right,” said the officer. “Come, Captain Lawrence, we are making some progress after all.”
“I’m glad of it, sir,” replied the captain; “but, tell me, you pressed some men last night?”
“Yes, we got seven sturdy fellows to the boats, in spite of a vigorous resistance.”
“Seven?” said the captain. “Well, surely that must be quite as many as we have living in the little cluster of cliff cottages! Of course there are their wives and children!”
“Yes,” said the lieutenant, drily; “we learned to our cost that they had wives, and strapping daughters too.”