"I think he sampled the flask of brandy when he brought it to the captain," replied Matt.
"That was plain enough, for he had a breath like a rum cask. But it wasn't that alone that made him so grouchy. There's something else at the bottom of his locker."
"Well, he's the mate," went on Matt, dropping his voice and turning a cautious look on the two negroes, "and I suppose he thinks Captain Nemo, Jr., ought to have put him in command. To have a fellow like me jumped over his head may have touched him a little."
"Mayhap," murmured Dick, "but it's a brand-new side of his character Cassidy's showing. I never suspected it of him. Do you think the captain's trouble is anything serious?"
"I hope not, Dick, but I'm worried. The sickness came on so suddenly I hardly know what to think."
"Probably he has some of the poison from that idol's head still under his hatches. Main queer, though, that he should be so long getting over it, when Carl cut himself adrift from the same thing so handsomely."
"Things of that kind never affect two people in exactly the same way."
The negroes brought their boat alongside the wharf. As Matt paid for their services, and climbed ashore, Dick called his attention to the Grampus. Cassidy could be seen on the speck of deck running the Stars and Stripes to the top of the short flagstaff. The other sailboat, to the boy's surprise, was standing in close to the submarine.
Having finished with the flag, Cassidy could be seen to throw a rope to the skipper of the sailboat, and then, a moment later, to spring aboard.
"What does that move mean?" queried Dick.