"Yon's no' so bad," he commented when he had drained the glass.
The stranger smiled as he poured out the rest of the vermouth for Watson.
"You mend the steamboat screw?" he asked carelessly.
"Yes, my friend," Watson replied, regarding the stranger out of sleepy looking eyes.
"How it come loose?"
"Tail-nut slacked up when the engines ran away in heavy weather."
"You get bad weather, then?"
"Bad enough," Watson answered.
Grahame gave him a cautious glance, but his face was expressionless. It was obvious that the stranger had mistaken him for the Enchantress's engineer. Watson must have realized this, but he had given the fellow misleading answers, and Grahame thought he need not run the risk of trying to warn him. He wondered, though, how far Macallister had taken Watson into his confidence.
"Small boat," said the stranger; "you find her wet when it blow. What you load?"