"Nearly there, you fellows," announced Woodleigh, as the Olivette passed the end of Mount Batten Breakwater. "Don't you think you'd better sleep aboard again? It's not much fun tramping ten miles on a wet evening like this."
"Especially if you've got to sleep out," added Flemming.
The Patrol Leader bent down and spoke to the engineer through the open window of the wheelhouse.
"Turn over to petrol now, Warkworth, old son," he said. "We're almost at Sutton Pool."
The crew began to make ready with ropes and fenders, while Woodleigh kept a sharp look out for a suitable berth in the sheltered but considerably crowded harbour known as Sutton Pool.
"Unity, ahoy!" he hailed, addressing a short, thick-set fisherman in a blue jersey, tanned trousers, and sea-boots, and wearing a billy-cock hat that looked rather out of keeping with his nautical rig. "Can we berth alongside you? Are you putting out to-night?"
"Make fast alongside o' we," replied the skipper of the fishing-smack Unity. "You'm welcome, sure."
"Why don't you tie up alongside the quay?" asked Desmond.
"We never do if it can be avoided," explained Woodleigh. "For one thing, it's rough on our fenders, grinding against a stone wall; for another, we'd have to keep a watch on deck all night to tend the warps when the tide fell. Lying alongside the smack we rise and fall with her. Her crew will have to see to the warps."
The task of making fast had occupied the attention of all hands, but when the work was completed the Sea Scouts became aware that they were objects of considerable attention. There was quite a crowd of fishermen and longshore folk taking an interest in the Olivette, while standing discreetly in the background, with their helmets showing above the heads of the onlookers, were two stalwart policemen.