Yet he had some suspicions that if this were in reality a boozing den, the tea might be drugged, and that being hocussed, he might be robbed. But one look at sweet Katie convinced him that his suspicions were really unmanly.
"You'll sleep here to-night, won't you?" she said.
"Yes, if they don't keep me on board the Breezy."
Jack roared with laughter and Katie couldn't help joining in.
"I think," said Jack, "that even the first lieutenant has been appointed, and they will have to dispense with your services, sonny. Why didn't you 'phone to the Port Admiral, and say you were coming?"
"You funny boy!" said Katie. "But how much money is in that purse of yours, that makes your trousers pocket bulge out so?"
"Oh, enough to pay for the tea, twenty times over."
"Why dear, I don't mean that," and the girl reddened a little.
"Well," she added, "you'll count all your gold out there on the table, and give it to my mother except just a handful of silver. She'll give you a receipt for it, and you'll come back here to sleep."
Kep looked at Jack, and Jack nodded. Then the boy counted his gold and notes out as innocently as a boy of nine might have done, and Mrs. Monck, the landlady of the Blue Ensign, took it in charge.