CHAPTER XVI
AN ADDITION FOR THE FUN OF THE BIG FOUR
The position of honor at the table on the right of the commander was given to Judge Salazar, and Mrs. Belgrave was placed next to him. The consul was on his left, with Mrs. Woolridge beside him. Louis was assigned to the opposite end of the table, with the boys next to him. Mr. Sage and Monsieur Odervie had done their best, and the dinner was praised with great enthusiasm by all the guests.
The judge made himself exceedingly agreeable to Mrs. Belgrave, and gave her a great deal of information in regard to Spain; but the principal subject of conversation was her son, who was "muy ricos," and his mother gave him an epitome of the life of the young millionaire, including the recovery of the missing million which had made him so rich.
The commander asked him if any suspicions were attached to the Salihé as concerned in any smuggling ventures. He could only learn that the officers of the customs kept a close watch upon her. Gray said he had engaged her to tow out the Golondrina; but he proved that he was such a liar he could not be believed, or the little steamer would have been seized.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, after the ladies and others had given the distinguished judicial dignitary a specimen of the songs they sang in the churches and evening meetings in America, the judge was sent home in the little steamer, attended by the consul and the commander. He was profuse in his acknowledgments of the pleasure he had derived from his visit, and especially from his dinner, declaring that no hotel in Spain could elaborate such a banquet. The consul had been locked out from his residence in the town at gun-fire, and the invitation to dine had included the tender of a stateroom for his use.
The consul was sent in the Salihé to the Ragged Stairs after breakfast. On her return Louis and Scott found the commander very busy measuring the length and breadth of the little steamer. He was looking her over with the utmost care, and it was evident to the boys that he had some scheme in his head. When he had finished his examination and measurements on board of the boat, he ascended to the deck of the ship, and renewed his employment.
"The Salihé is forty feet long, Captain Ringgold," interposed Louis, with a merry laugh, though he was wondering with all his might what the commander's calculations indicated. "Her standing-room is cushioned with crimson plush, and will seat eight persons comfortably, or twelve with the addition of the tabourets in the cabin."
"Go on, Mr. Belgrave," said the captain, when he was closing the diary from which he had read the description so far, and which he carried in one of his pockets, having written it out while on the trip from Madeira to Tarifa in the little steamer.
"Her cabin is twelve feet long, with four windows on a side, each having a single pane of plate glass, with a table in the middle, and several tabourets. The sides are occupied by broad divans, on which beds may be made, with a full supply of bed-clothes in the lockers under them. She has a miniature pilot-house and a cook-room forward of the engine."