"You ride with Clackett in the automobile to Carrolton, Cassidy," said he briskly, "take the ferry to Westwego and bring the Grampus on the run to Stuyvesant Dock. Clackett and I will be there waiting for you."
"Tough luck," growled Cassidy, "we didn't know something about this move o' Sixty's, 'cause then we could have had the submarine handier by."
"We'll not lose much time," returned the captain. "The Grampus is all ready for a long cruise? That's the main thing."
"The boys was gettin' on the last of the stores over at Westwego," replied Cassidy.
The captain whirled on Clackett.
"The ferry from Carrolton runs on the half hour," said he, "and if you hit up that buzz-wagon you ought to get Cassidy on the ten-thirty boat. After that, rush back into town. The Snug Harbor Hotel is not far from Stuyvesant Dock. Go there, ask for Motor Matt, and bring him and his friends to the dock, prepared to make the run down the river and into the gulf with us. That will be all. Off with you, on the jump. I'll look after your luggage and mine, Cassidy."
If Cassidy was to catch the first boat from Carrolton landing there was no time for talk. With a hearty, "Ay, ay," the two men whirled from the room and rushed down the stairs. A moment later the captain, looking from a front window, saw them leap into the automobile and vanish up the street.
So far as the captain was concerned, he had plenty of time to make his preparations. It would be close to eleven o'clock before the Grampus could possibly get clear of Westwego, and possibly it would be eleven-fifteen before she would come alongside the Stuyvesant Dock.
For some time the captain had been lying ill in the Prytania Street house, but he was now rapidly recovering, and his restless, active nature welcomed this call to action. He felt that it was the one tonic he needed to bring him back to his usual form.
Cassidy was mate of the Grampus. Ever since the captain had been stricken down the mate had been with him as watcher and nurse.