"You coward!"
The younger woman, too, started in to berate him, but Dave remained calm.
"Will you, at least, not leave the room until I have risen?" demanded the older woman.
Darrin, who had a notion that the women wanted to conceal or destroy something, nodded his assent, but signed to two of the seamen to enter. Under his instructions they took the door off its hinges, carried it outside and laid it on the floor of the dining cabin.
"Now, ladies," Dave called, as he stepped outside, "you will be good enough to come out at once."
"We will come at our good convenience!" snapped the older woman.
"Wrong again. As I am discharging my duty here, you will necessarily come out at once. I shall not be patient if my instructions are defied."
Plainly furious that the door could not be closed, the younger woman assisted the older one to rise from the berth. Then, both expressing their resentment in their glances, the two women came out of the cabin.
"Mother and daughter," guessed Dave.
"Where will you have us sit, Brute?" demanded the younger woman.