“Do you intend to go to town with the Don?” asked Chase, in great amazement.
“I do.”
“Well, if you don’t beat all the fellows I ever heard of! You have certainly taken leave of your senses. Don’t you know that Captain Conway and Mr. Bell will do all they can to strengthen the Don’s suspicions?”
“You didn’t hear me through. We don’t want to see either of those worthy gentlemen, if we can avoid it. We will go with the Don, simply because we can’t help ourselves, and perhaps during the ride he will get over his mad fit, so that we can talk to him. If he does, we will tell him our story from beginning to end, and ask him to go aboard the Banner with us. Walter and the other fellows must have returned by this time, and when the Don finds that their story agrees with ours, and sees the yacht’s papers, perhaps he will believe us. If he don’t, let’s see him help himself. We’ll be on board our vessel then, and we’ll stay there.”
“Yes. That’s all very nice. But suppose the Banner isn’t there? What then?”
“Eh?” exclaimed Wilson.
“Those deserters may have returned and run off with her during our absence. What would you do in that case?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t calculating on that.”
“And what will the Don do?” continued Chase. “If we tell him that we shall find our yacht at the wharf and she happens to be gone, he will have more reason to suspect us than he does now.”