"'Pon my honour—how d'e do?—glad to see you, hang it! You're not dead, then, after all?"
"Not a bit, sir," said Jack, heartily returning his handgrip. "Come to report myself, sir."
"Good gad! What a—what a villainous brigand you look! But we'll soon put that right. 'Pon my honour, I am deuced glad to see you."
The colonel shook hands again, and for some minutes Jack's arm was going up and down like a pump handle as he returned the greetings of his old friends, who meanwhile volleyed questions at him with clamorous excitement.
"Uncommonly kind of you fellows," he panted, "but if you'll excuse me—"
"Not a bit of it," cried Smith. "Excuse you, indeed!"
"No, begad," said the colonel. "You'll come in and let us drink your health—three times three. Come along."
"Most happy, sir, if you'll just allow me five or six minutes. The fact is, there's a lady on board, and—"
"Good gad! A lady!"
"And I came to get a coach to fetch her."