"Morris is in the standing-room, and I have no doubt he is wondering why we are wasting our steam just here, when the ship is going ahead at full speed," said he to the captain. "Don't you think the time has come?"
"No doubt of it," answered the captain.
These last remarks may seem a little mysterious; but the present situation had been foreseen by Captain Ringgold. Morris was the first officer, and if the momentous secret was to be kept from him any longer, it would require an amount of lying and deception which was utterly repugnant to the principles of both the commander and Louis. The representative of the Woolridge family on board of the Maud must be left with his father and mother and sister on the ship, or the whole truth must be told to the son. Thus far no lies had been necessary; and the captain did not believe it would be wrong for him to conceal what would be dangerous to the peace of mind of his passengers.
As long as Captain Ringgold conscientiously believed that neither Miss Blanche nor Louis was in any peril, he considered it his duty to conceal from their parents the plot of the Pacha and his agents. He was sure that neither Mrs. Woolridge nor Mrs. Belgrave would consent to continue the voyage even in the face of a very remote danger to their children. He had abundant resources on board, including his two twelve-pounders, for their protection; and he had used them on one occasion, though his passengers did not understand the reason of the attack made on the Maud.
This subject had been considered before the vessels sailed from Alexandria, and the commander declared that he could not adopt the scheme of Scott, if they were to be required to utter no end of falsehoods to Morris; and Louis absolutely refused to do so. They had finally compromised by making the owner a committee of one to confer with the subject of the difficulty when the time for action came. Like the others, Morris was to be pledged to secrecy for the peace and comfort of the mothers. If he refused to give the pledge, the plan of Captain Scott was to be abandoned, and the Maud was to place herself immediately under the wing of the Guardian-Mother again. The time for action on this subject had come.
"I will go aft and have a talk with Morris; and I am only afraid he will fly off at the want of confidence in him we have shown," said Louis.
"But his case is not a whit different from your own; for you have a mother in the cabin as well as he," added the captain.
"But we have concealed everything from him for months; but Morris is as good a fellow as ever sailed the seas, and he will be reasonable."
"I pledged myself to secrecy, and I think we had better make the 'Big Four' a society for the protection of this secret till the end of the voyage."
"We will consider that at another time," replied Louis as he moved aft.