“Mr. Wolff’s place?” said Blood. “And who the deuce is Mr. Wolff?”
“Our senior partner,” said Shiner. “I’m expecting him every minute.”
Then it was that the Captain noticed a cover laid beside Harman and evidently intended for him.
The temper of the man was not intended by nature to take calmly an incident like this.
The steward was listening, too.
“I’ll give you to understand right away and here, now,” said he, “that I’m the skipper of this tub, and that this is my place at the table. It’s as well to begin as we intend to go on. Steward, look alive there with the coffee.”
He took his seat at the head of the table, helped himself to eggs and bacon, and turned his conversation on Harman. Shiner flushed, hesitated, lost his balance, and subsided into his coffee cup. The Captain at a stroke had taken his position among the after guard. Wolff might own the ship, and Shiner, too, it did not matter in the least. The Captain was boss, and would remain so.
In a moment, when he had finished saying what he had to say to Harman, he turned to the other.
“Of course,” said he, “I can’t stop you bringing all the supercargoes you like on board——” He stopped, told the steward to clear out of the saloon, and then, when the man had disappeared, went on: “Considering I’ve let myself in for this thing with my eyes shut, I’ve no right to complain if you brought bears on board, to say nothing of wolves; but I’d have taken it kinder if you had let me know right off at the beginning that the whole firm was going on the cruise.”