"Ay, ay, sir," I replied; and as soon as she had passed us and was out of sight, I came about and headed to the west through the rain, with the wind bearing the little cutter on, with (to me) the most precious cargo in the world.
The passengers did not come on deck that afternoon; but late in the evening the fog cleared away, and so far as we could see by searching the horizon with a glass not a sail was in sight. I was leaning with my back to the companionway, talking to Mr. Chips, who was at the tiller (the Bat had no wheel), when I heard the sound of a voice that thrilled me through and through. My own talking apparatus was almost normal by this time, I should have stated, although I now could sing bass instead of tenor.
"Give the order to haul up that flag," I said to the carpenter, in an undertone.
It was still bright light, and the sun had not dipped full below the edge of the sea, and clear and bright in all its beautiful colors up went to the peak the stars and stripes.
Mary had seen it first. "What does this mean, grandfather?" she said.
The old man could not reply.
"It means," said I, turning, "that Captain John Hurdiss has come in his own vessel to get you, Mistress Tanner."
I did not know exactly what would be the result of this speech, but if I had had any idea that it was to produce a sensation, the result certainly proved the correctness of my surmisings. Mary gave a gasp and stamped her foot upon the deck. The flash of her eye had more kinds of feeling in it than one can describe.
"Traitor and coward!" she hissed, extending her clinched hands at her sides with the knuckles upward in a rigid gesture. Then she gave a half-inarticulate cry of rage, and turning, stepped down the companionway into the cabin.
Before me was standing Mr. Middleton; his arms were folded, and his fingers clasping and unclasping nervously.