"It will use up some of the time, and the longer we wait before the curtain rises, the better the chance that the Guardian-Mother will come in to take a hand in the game," suggested the captain; and Louis took another look through the glass to seaward.
"You needn't look so far out to sea for the ship, my dear fellow; for when she appears she will come around Cape Arnauti, and not more than a mile outside of it, where she will get eight fathoms of water. She is coming up from the south; and if our business was not such here that none of us can leave, I would send Morris and Flix to the top of that hill on the point, where they could see the ship twenty miles off in this clear air."
While the captain was saying all this, the four Moorish rowers in the boat dropped their oars into the water, and began to pull again; for the patience of their commander seemed to be oozing out.
"That won't do!" exclaimed Scott. "Boat ahoy! Keep off!" he shouted.
"I told you I wished to see Mr. Belgrave, Captain Scott; and you do not answer me. You are using up my patience, and I tell you that I will not be trifled with!" said Captain Mazagan in a loud tone, with a spice of anger and impatience mixed in with it.
"That's just my case! I won't be trifled with! Stop where you are! If you pull another stroke, I shall proceed to business!" called the captain, with vim enough to satisfy the most strenuous admirer of pluck in a moment of difficulty.
The oarsmen ceased rowing; and when the boat lost its headway it was not more than forty feet from the side of the Maud. Scott did not object to this distance, as there was to be a talk with the pirate.
"Mr. Belgrave will speak with you since you desire it," said Captain Scott, as soon as he realized that the boat's crew did not intend to board the steamer.
He walked over to the port side of the deck, where he could still command a clear view of the boat all the time; and he did not take his eyes from it long enough to wink. He was ready to order the riflemen to the forecastle; and he intended to do so if the boat advanced another foot.
"What is going on, Captain Scott?" asked Morris, who stood at the head of the column.