“If boardin’ yon vessel ain’t spoilin’ the one chance the bairns have of a Christmas treat, what is?” rejoined the spokesman. “After the cap’n ‘ad gone to all that trouble, too.”
“Where is the captain?” inquired Kenneth.
“Whur he be an’ nowheres else,” replied the fisherman resentfully. “That’ll be his business and nobbut else!”
“I won’t press for further information on that point,” continued the midshipman. “I was merely trying to find out the motives that prompted the skipper of a French trading schooner to provide Christmas fare for the children of the village to which you belong. And I quite agree with you that it must be a terrible disappointment to the kids to have to miss their treat.”
“That’s what we think, sir,” remarked Petty Officer Wilson. “Couldn’t we take the place of the Frenchmen pro tem. It strikes me we aren’t going to get out of here for another eight or ten hours at least.”
“Capital idea!” agreed Kenneth.
He was feeling in high spirits. A most satisfying meal following an almost miraculous escape from death had cheered him up considerably. There were other circumstances tending in the same direction—the jammed steering-gear, for instance. He would be able to vindicate himself before the commander; meanwhile, since the commander had stopped him participating in Christmas festivities with Whitwell at Kindersley Manor, he would give a Christmas party on his own account—although at someone else’s expense—and risk what the Bloke said about it afterwards!
Kenneth beckoned the fishermen to come alongside. Not without some hesitation they rowed a few strokes and then lay off at a distance of about ten yards.
“Look here, you men,” explained the midshipman. “As the schooner is suspected of carrying contraband I’ve put her under arrest. If she isn’t a smuggler then the captain and crew have nothing to fear. They’d better report at Mautby Custom House on the day after to-morrow. And I wouldn’t for one moment suggest that you are hand-in-glove with a crowd of foreign smugglers—so you’ve nothing to be afraid of.”
The two fishermen grinned. They knew perfectly well that the midshipman was pulling their legs.