He looked round to see where the ex-stoker was, but saw him not. Slogger Soames had quietly walked off and was well on his way towards the town—the first stage of his journey back to his native Plymouth.
CHAPTER XVII
GETTING TO WIND'ARD OF PENGELLY
AT four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day on which the Mendez Nunez was towed into Falmouth harbour, Gerald Broadmayne, "clothed and in his right mind" (to be precise, he had bathed, shaved and shifted into naval uniform) passed through the wicket-gate of Devonport Dockyard on his way to interview the Commander-in-Chief.
Rollo Vyse had gone home to assure his parents that he was not drowned, and that, if Mr. Vyse had ignored Captain Cain's demands for ransom, he might with perfect confidence continue to do so.
The chums' detention had been of short duration. At the police-station they had asked the inspector to send for two local residents whom they knew well, and who were ready to give their assurances that the two suspects could with safety be released. In the interval, ready-made and ill-fitting suits were sent to the station to replace the borrowed garments belonging to El Capitaño José Lopez.
A powerful car was hired and brought round to the police-station. To it Broadmayne and Vyse were escorted between crowds of curious spectators and followed by a knot of eager pressmen, who vainly sought an interview with either or both of the Englishmen who had come ashore from the Spanish tanker.
At Fowey the chums parted, Rollo to his home, the Sub to his, whence after a bath, a change into the uniform of a sub-lieutenant, and a square meal, Broadmayne resumed his car journey to Devonport Dockyard.
With mixed emotions the Sub traversed the familiar cobblestones of the dockyard, past the gigantic figureheads that served in a measure to remind the New Navy of the deeds of the Old, and ascended the steps of the Georgian portico of the admiral's official residence.