"Well, sir, that's neither here nor there," returned the voice; "but if I was in your place, I'd put 'em off afore starting."
"But perhaps the poor fellows need some help," returned the captain. "Tell them to show themselves and I'll not be hard upon them."
"Well, now," exclaimed the invisible speaker, "I must say you're a good, kind-hearted sort o' man, spite o' owning this grand yacht and a lot o' money, so I'll call 'em. Halloo, here, mates, don't be afeard to show yerselves and I reckon ye'll git some grub if nuthin' else."
"Wait a little till this matter is settled," Captain Raymond said, reversing his order about the anchor, then asked, "Have any strangers been allowed to board the yacht during my absence?" addressing his query to the man at the helm.
"Well, no, sir; not to say strangers," answered the man, hesitatingly and with a slight laugh.
"Ah! some old friends, though; just as I suspected," and with the words Captain Raymond glanced searchingly about, then with a quick step drew near the hiding place of the stowaways.
"Ah, cousins, I see my guess was not wide of the mark," he said, with his good-humored laugh and giving a hand to each. "You are as welcome as sunlight in the morning and shall have all the 'grub' you can stow away. But why not send for your baggage and go on home with us? You have seen all the sights of Quebec, have you not?"
"About all, captain," replied Mr. Lilburn, "and we thank you heartily for your very kind invitation. But though travel on the Dolphin, especially in such good company, is most delightful, we would crowd you too much, I fear."
"Yes," said Annis, "and it would be very selfish to give ourselves so much pleasure at the cost of such inconvenience to our kind friends—our dear relatives. But seeing the Dolphin lying here, we felt that we could not deny ourselves the great pleasure of a peep at you all."