"With no reflection or disparagement upon you of any kind, Louis, I said just what I thought, and spoke just what I felt," replied the captain.
"But I don't understand your position at all, Captain Scott. I do not see that I am in any greater peril than the rest of the ship's company," added Louis with a very cheerful smile upon his good-looking face.
"I don't forget that you are the sole owner of the Guardian-Mother, and half-owner of the Maud, with a million and a half of dollars in your trousers pocket. Though we are all earning our living in your service, as well as improving our education, I for one do not lose sight of the fact that we are all dependent upon your bounty for the means of carrying on this voyage."
"What has all this to do with what we were talking about, Captain Scott?" asked Louis, very much inclined to laugh out loud at the rehearsal of the situation.
"It has this to do with it: I am very much afraid of saying something, or doing something, that will offend you," answered the captain, with more than usual deference in his tone and manner. "We came very near getting into a quarrel in Pournea Bay; and if I had forgotten for a moment what you are and what I am, we might have fallen into a jolly row."
"I acted then as mildly as I could, however, in a matter which you did not understand then, but do now; and I apologized for my interference as soon as I had the opportunity," replied Louis quite seriously. "I cannot understand why you have found it necessary to remind me that I am a millionaire on a small scale, as fortunes are measured in our country, and that I am the owner of the Guardian-Mother. You make it appear as though I regarded you as my inferior. Have I ever put on airs in my relations with you, Captain Scott?"
"Never!" replied the captain promptly, and with decided emphasis.
"Have I ever interfered with you in your command, except in the instance referred to?"
"Never!"
"Have I ever done anything to stultify, degrade you, or impair your self-respect?"