“We want to have a talk with you!” cried Frank. “Come over in a small boat. You will be safe.”
“I have no business that I wish to transact with you.”
“Ah, but it may be to your interest to talk with us,” returned Frank. “You had better grant us an interview.”
A snarling, unintelligible reply came back. Then a boat put out from the Aurelian’s side and was rowed swiftly alongside the Dolphin.
Gilbert Parker and a dark-browed man stood in the bow. They stepped out on the Dolphin’s deck.
“Captain Warren,” said Parker, with a peculiar smile, as he exchanged salutes and introduced his companion, “he is the present sailing master of the Aurelian.”
Then he turned abruptly to Frank and said:
“What are you doing here?”
Frank gazed keenly at the old rascal for a moment, and then replied with deliberation:
“We are in search of the sunken galleon Donna Veneta. What are you here for?”