He paused for a moment, looking back at me as though to make certain I was serious. My expression must have shown him there could be no doubt about that.
"What is it?" he asked quietly.
I turned and pointed to the Seagull. "The woman I love is on board that boat," I said hoarsely. "She has been drugged and carried off by Lord Sangatte. There's just one chance of catching them—your petrol launch. If you could get us up alongside, we'd do the rest. I don't know how many men he has on board, but there are three of us, and—"
"I say," he broke in, with shining eyes, "are you pulling my leg?"
I shook my head with a rather wan smile.
"Oh, but this is delightful!" he said. Then, seeing my face, he added politely: "I didn't mean that, of course; but I've been spending years writing about abductions and murders and things of that sort, and this is the first real adventure I've ever been mixed up in."
"And you'll take us?" I cried.
"Take you!" he echoed. "Good Lord—rather! I wouldn't miss such a chance for the world."
Billy, who had come up in time to catch the last remark, clapped him unceremoniously on the shoulder.
"I don't know who you are, my son," he said, "but you're a man, and the breed's rare. Shake."