But Sallie had stopped on the threshold, and stayed there, silent, unable to move. The Emir, staring avidly at her, rose and lifted his glass.
"Here's happy days and no regrets—to the two of us!" he cried, and was draining it off when Captain Dove, at his back, felled him to the floor with a well-aimed blow of the full water-bottle, which was the most convenient weapon at hand.
"Are his two cut-throats out there safe?" the old man hissed from between set teeth, and Sallie, looking round, saw two limp figures huddled with hanging heads in the dark alleyway just beyond the door.
"Safe as houses," Slyne answered evenly, since she stood silent, aghast. "I made sure of them before I went aft. A single drink settled their hash. You must have made the dose in the other bottle pretty strong."
"It's just as well, after all, you see, that we didn't depend on fixing him the same way," said Captain Dove, recovering his self-command and indicating the prone Emir with a contemptuous foot. He seemed to have forgotten for the moment his grudge against Slyne. "I was afraid he'd smell a rat if we tried that old trick on him.
"And now—the sooner he's over the side the better. Don't stand there staring, Sallie! Go and call some of the men in."
The girl turned and went, dazedly, drawing her skirts close as she passed the two huddled figures in the alleyway. Half a dozen of the watch on deck carried the Emir and his ineffectual retinue up the gangway, flung them, like so much rubbish, into the boat out of which the hapless Hobson had fallen, and at once cast it loose.
"They'll probably all wake up before they drift into the surf," said Captain Dove, looking on, with a laugh which made even Slyne glance askance at him. "And, if not—it isn't my fault.
"That fellow thought he could get the better of me, Slyne—and there's the result!
"Is that you, Mr. Da Costa? Where's Hobson?"