There was a significant emphasis on the "mynheer."
Muller flushed. "Don't get the notion I'm going to sweet-mouth to him simply because he is resident, kapitein," he retorted, recovering his dignity. "You know me well enough—my foot is in this as deeply as yours."
"Yes, and deeper," Van Slyck replied significantly.
The remark escaped Muller. He was thrusting aside the screen of nipa leaves to peer toward the vessel.
"No," he exclaimed with a sigh of relief, "he has not left the ship yet. There are two civilians at the forward rail—come, kapitein, do you think one of them is he?"
He opened the screen wider for Van Slyck. The captain stepped forward with an expression of bored indifference and peered through the aperture.
"H-m!" he muttered. "I wouldn't be surprised if the big fellow is Gross. They say he has the inches."
"I hope to heaven he stays aboard to-day," Muller prayed fervently.
"He can come ashore whenever he wants to, for all I care," Van Slyck remarked.
Muller straightened and let the leaves fall back.