"My business is quite as important to Mr. Belgrave as it is to me," replied Mazagan.
"Very likely; but what is your business with him?"
"It is with him, and not with you," returned the pirate, apparently vexed at the reply. "Who are you? I don't mean to talk my affairs with one I don't know."
"I am Captain Scott, commander of the steamer Maud, tender of the steamship Guardian-Mother, owned and in the service of Mr. Louis Belgrave," replied the captain as impressively as he could make the statement. "That ought to knock a hole through the tympanum of his starboard ear," he added with a smile, in a lower tone.
"Of course he knew who you were before," added Louis.
"He ought to know me, for I fished him out of the water in the harbor of Hermopolis."
"If Mr. Belgrave is on board, I wish to see him," continued Mazagan.
"I may as well face the music first as last," said Louis, as he stepped out from the shelter of the pilot-house which had concealed him from those in the boat.
"Of course it is no use to try to hide you. Do you wish to talk with the pirate, Louis?" asked the captain.
"I don't object to hearing what he has to say, though certainly nothing will come of it," replied the intended victim.