“I am ready to start. I ought even now to be on my way, but—”
“But—” persisted the coast-guard.
A bright idea shot through James’s mind, and he answered,—
“One of my sailors is locked up in the citadel, and to tell the truth I had almost forgotten him; fortunately I thought of him in time, and I have sent my men to bring him.”
“Ah! that troublesome fellow; you wish to take him back to England?”
“Yes.”
“He might as well be hung here as there,” said the coast-guard, laughing at his joke.
“So I think,” said James Playfair, “but it is better to have the thing done in the regular way.”
“Not much chance of that, Captain, when you have to face the Morris Island batteries.”
“Don’t alarm yourself. I got in and I’ll get out again.”