This added fuel to the flames, and she was about to blaze out again, when Kenyon, turning on his heel, left her and Fleming standing facing each other. Then the young woman herself turned and quickly departed, leaving the bewildered politician entirely alone, so that there was nothing for him to do but to go into the smoking-room and ask somebody else to drink with him, which he promptly did.
Miss Brewster made her way to the captain's room and rapped at the door. On being told to enter, she found that officer seated at his table with some charts before him, and a haggard look upon his face, which might have warned her that this was not the proper time to air any personal grievances.
'Well?' he said briefly as she entered.
'I came to see you, captain,' she began, 'because an outrageous thing has been done on board this ship, and I desire reparation. What is more, I will have it!
'What is the "outrageous thing"?' asked the captain.
'I had some despatches to send to New York, to the New York Argus, on whose staff I am.'
'Yes,' said the captain with interest; 'despatches relating to what has happened to the ship?'
'One of them did, the other did not.'
'Well, I hope,' said the captain, 'you have not given an exaggerated account of the condition we are in.'
'I have given no account at all, simply because I was prevented from sending the cablegrams.'