“Thousands of miles—to hear a yarn like this!”
“Cleigh, we’ve done business for nearly twenty years. You can’t point out an instance where I ever broke my word.”
“I know,” grumbled Cleigh. “But I’ve gone to all this trouble, getting a crew and all that. 32 And now you tell me you’ve let the beads slip through your fingers!”
“Pshaw! You’d have put the yacht into commission if you’d never heard from me. You were crazy to get to sea again. Any trouble picking up the crew?”
“No. But only four of the old crew—Captain Newton, of course, and Chief Engineer Svenson, Donaldson, and Morley. Still, it’s the best crew I ever had: young fellows off warships and transports, looking for comfortable berths and a little adventure that won’t entail hunting periscopes.”
“Plenty of coal?”
“Trust me for that. Four hundred tons in Manila, and I shan’t need more than a bucketful.”
“Who drew the plans for this yacht?” asked Cunningham, with a roving glance.
“I did.”
“Humph! Why didn’t you leave the job to someone who knew how? It’s a series of labyrinths on this deck.”