The mate’s brow cleared and then darkened again, suddenly. “I see, some more lies for me to tell, I suppose,” he said, angrily.
“After you’ve raised the alarm and failed to recover the body,” said the skipper, with relish, “you’ll lock my door and put the key in your pocket. That would be the proper thing to do if I really did go overboard, you know, and when we get to London I’ll just slip quietly ashore.”
The mate came back to his dinner and finished it in silence, while the skipper kept up a rambling fire of instructions for his future guidance.
“And what about Miss Tyrell?” said the mate, at length. “Is she to know?”
“Certainly not,” said Flower, sharply. “I wouldn’t have her know for anything. You’re the only person to know, Jack. You’ll have to break the news to ’em all, and mind you do it gently, so as not to cause more grief than you can help.”
“I won’t do it at all,” said the mate.
“Yes, you will,” said Flower, “and if Matilda or her mother come down again, show it to ’em in the paper. Then they’ll know it’ll be no good worrying Cap’n Flower again. If they see it in the paper they’ll know it’s true; it’s sure to be in the local papers, and in the London ones, too, very likely. I should think it would; the master of a vessel!”
Fraser being in no mood to regard this vanity complacently, went up on deck and declined to have anything to do with the matter. He maintained this attitude of immovable virtue until tea-time, by which time Flower’s entreaties had so won upon him that he was reluctantly compelled to admit that it seemed to be the only thing possible in the circumstances, and more reluctantly still to promise his aid to the most unscrupulous extent possible.
“I’ll write to you when I’m fixed up,” said the skipper, “giving you my new name and address. You’re the only person I shall be able to keep touch with. I shall have to rely upon you for everything. If it wasn’t for you I should be dead to the world.”
“I know what you’ll do as well as possible,” said Fraser; “you’ve got nothing to do for six months, and you’ll be getting into some more engagements.”