“I am no seaman, but I know something about navigation.”
“You have commanded a vessel, haven’t you?”
“Yes, two of them.”
“Were they large ones?”
“One of them was a whaler, and the other was a gunboat.”
“So I was told. Could you take a vessel from here to San Francisco?”
“I think I could,” said Frank, with a smile. “I brought the Stranger from Bellville around the Horn to ’Frisco.”
Fowler nodded his head, and sat looking at the floor for some minutes in silence. “Speaking of your paymaster,” said he, suddenly—“the reason I asked about him, was because I heard some of your crew wishing that he would make haste and come back. They have spent all their money, and want a new supply. I suppose Walter is able to pay them all their dues?”
“Oh, yes,” said Frank.
“I suppose, too, that the contents of that little safe would make you and me rich.”