"I should like to know it too," said I.
"I can vouch for Captain Ashington's information," said Tiel briefly.
There is something extraordinarily decisive and satisfying about Tiel when he speaks like that. I knew it must be all right; still, I felt it my duty to make sure.
"Have you any objections to telling me?" I asked.
Tiel stepped to my side and whispered—
"I told you about his brother."
I understood, and did not press my question. Whether to respect the man for this remnant of delicacy, or to despise him for not being a more thorough, honest blackguard, I was not quite sure.
"Well," I said, "suppose we know when they are going out, they will take the usual precautions, I presume?"
Ashington leaned forward confidentially over the table.
"They are going out on a new course," he said in a low voice.