"I'm really sorry for Uncle Randolph," Jack continued, sobering down. "But then, he might have trusted me to bring the Merle back."
"Ye ain't takin' it too much to 'eart, are ye, sir?" queried the big Englishman, with a look so humorous and quizzical that Jerry was seized by a dreadful suspicion that the twinkling eyes saw through the whole scheme of bluff.
"Not I," Jack assented blithely; "though of course I'd rather have taken the yacht home myself. What's the next move? Do you put us in irons, or hang us to the crosstree-ends?"
"Why, they sent word from Lloyd's," replied Mainbrace, with the unmistakable grin of a man who regards himself as a humorist, "that the owner said not to be too 'ard on ye. I expect 't'll be no worse nor transportation for life." Then he put on a graver and more professional look, and added, "I'm afraid we'll 'ave to be more serious, sir. Will ye kindly show me your papers and the log? I suppose you 'ave 'em 'andy."
"Certainly," the captain said, also assuming an official air. "Jerry, will you give the inspector the papers? I'll get the log."
The examination of the papers was a short matter, and then they took up the log. It was at once evident that the Englishman had a keen curiosity to discover what the young men had been doing with the Merle, and that he was no less eager in his interest in all things nautical. Jerry sat by in almost open-mouthed admiration to see how the captain took advantage of both these characteristics. Jack could be most attractive, and from the start it was evident that he was doing his best to please Mr. Mainbrace. He explained all the manœuvres of that memorable night when the Merle had been spirited away in the fog, while the jolly face of the deputy inspector became more and more radiant with each new development of the story. The charts were produced, each detail of seamanship carefully brought out, and the whole episode lived over again. Jack warmed to his subject as he went on; Jerry threw in a word now and then when the captain in his eagerness seemed in danger of forgetting to mention some detail; the Englishman listened with chuckles and with laughter which soon came to be devoid of the slightest pretense of official dignity; and, in a word, the three became as merry and companionable over the log as if they were all pirates together. Mainbrace had been a sailor and a mate in his day, and showed the keenest zest for every nautical experience. There is no surer bond of comradeship than mutual love of the sea; and despite differences of race, age, and social position, Jack, Jerry, and the deputy inspector fraternized over the Merle's log as only sailors can.
The log-book was read to the last entry. Over the account of the gale the yacht had encountered on her way across the Atlantic Mainbrace became as excited as if he had had a personal stake in the safety of the Merle. His ejaculations became more and more emphatic and more and more picturesque, and his rejoicing over the safe weathering of the storm almost as fervid as if he had been in it himself. The race at Nice Jack told of with as little reflection on the unsportsmanlike conduct of Lord Merryfield as was possible; but the jovial countenance of Mainbrace darkened, and he expressed an opinion of the absent nobleman which was sufficiently tonic to satisfy even Taberman. Jack said afterward that by the time they got through the log a quotation from "Horatius" popped into his head, and he came very near breaking out with it:—
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told.