"What would you do with him?"
"I would give him the command of my steamer. I would rather have him in that place than all the old grannies in the Confederate navy."
Somers thought Mr. Coles was rather extravagant. He had no idea that Mr. Ensign Somers was one tenth part of the man which the amiable and patronizing Mr. Coles declared he was; and he was impatient to have the speaker announce his intentions, rather than waste any more time in such unwarrantable commendation.
But instead of telling what he intended to do, he confined himself most provokingly to what he had failed to do, giving Langdon minute details of the capture of the Theban and the Snowden, dwelling with peculiar emphasis on the agency of Somers in the work. This was not interesting to the listener, but something better soon followed.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FRONT CHAMBER.
"But I am going to get back the money I lost, and make a pile besides," said Coles, when he had fully detailed the events attending the loss of the Snowden.
"If you can," added the sceptical Langdon.
"Of course there is some risk, but my plans are so well laid that a failure is hardly possible," continued Coles.