“I shall be only too glad, Count,” said the doctor; “and now I think we will get back to the schooner, and Captain Chubb here will shape his course somewhere to the south-east, till within the next few days we near the coast, when he will select a suitable place for his purpose.”
“I cannot find words,” said the Count, in a husky voice.
“Don’t try,” said the doctor.
“No, but—er,”—continued the Count, in rather a hesitating tone, “you do mean to keep cruising about here—and farther south or west?”
“Don’t you give that another thought,” said the doctor frankly. “The schooner is my own, and almost any portion of the ocean or the shore offers attractions to me and my nephew. We can find interest anywhere. I only hope that you will not find our society dull.”
The Count made a gesture, and then, after a word or two to the skipper, the latter gave his men orders, and they took their places in the boat.
It was then that the Count’s son, who had been very silent for some time, looking at Rodd as if longing to speak, suddenly turned and whispered something to his father, who replied with a comprehensive gesture, and the lad immediately approached the doctor.
“It will be hours yet, sir, before it is dark, and I have so much I should like to say to your nephew. Can he not stay till evening, and then our boat shall bring him to your vessel? You will not,” he continued playfully, turning to Rodd, “be afraid of going down?”
“My nephew is at liberty to do as he pleases,” replied the doctor frankly. “What do you say, Rodd?”
“Oh, I want to stay, uncle. I should like to hear all about the escape.”