"No, Martha, I did not," was the emphatic reply.
Mrs. Tobin looked at the captain for a few seconds in silence. Then she detected a peculiar expression in his eyes, and at once surmised its meaning.
"But, Sam'l, did you have a girl on board?"
"Yes, Martha, I did."
"Then you have been lying."
"No, I haven't. This man asked me if I had his daughter on board, an' I told him I didn't. That gal might have been his daughter once, but she isn't now. Any man who would treat a gal the way this man treated that beautiful creature who tumbled into the cabin of the 'Eb and Flo' has no right to call her his daughter, so thar."
"What fool-talk is this?" Randall impatiently asked. "I know now that it was my daughter you had on board your boat. What you think about my actions doesn't worry me in the least. Your quibbling is childish and unbecoming to a man of your age. You will change your tune, though, let me tell you that, when you are called upon to face the charge of being involved in my daughter's wild escapade."
"Go ahead, Mister, go ahead. Whenever ye want me, jist sing out."
"Oh, I shall sing out, all right. You needn't think I'm bluffing.
When I undertake a thing I carry it through."
"An' I s'pose ye'll carry through the persecution of that gal ye call yer daughter?"