'Yes, a flask of Schiedam for my own consumption,' sneered Job. 'You will find that under the seat in the window. I will not begrudge you a drop to wash down your mortification.'
'You infernal rascal, you are too deep for us. But we shall be even with you yet.'
'The loudest-ticking clocks tell the worst time,' said the captain; and then added, with a twinkle of the eye, 'Do you suppose that if I were what you take me to be I should be so soft as to stow away goods where a parcel of green fools would look for them?'
The officer bit his lip.
'Come away, my hearties,' he ordered.
'My child! Where is my child?' pleaded the frantic mother, whose attention had not for a moment been distracted from her own loss. She clung to the officer as he was leaving.
'My good creature, I know nothing about her.'
'But you have seen her. You have seized her to get some information out of her.'
'No such thing. We have not cast eyes on her.'
'Then you may see her. Send her back. She may be dead. If you find her——'