"Very well. Recollect what I have told you is entirely confidential. The party is due at Pisa to-morrow, but will return to dine on board. I have a lot of business to attend to on shore, so possibly I may not return with them. If I don't sail with you, don't be surprised."
"I quite understand, sir," replied the captain. "I shall keep my own counsel, and sail as soon as I get the box. Had I better call at Naples if you don't sail with us?"
"No. If I cannot come, put into Palermo. I'll wire you there."
"All right, sir," was the response.
Davis, a trustworthy old Mediterranean skipper, who knew the rugged Italian coast as well as he did the Thames Embankment, and who had spent half a lifetime on colliers and tramps between Gibraltar and the Greek Islands, was a short, stout, round-faced man who wore a very thick pea-jacket even in the warmest weather, and who was always speaking of his "missus an' the kids," kept snug by him at Barking.
I had often had chats with him, for he had initiated me into the mysteries of taking sights, and had given me many a lesson in nautical affairs. He was full of droll stories, and had more than once delighted us by relating his humorous experiences while cycling ashore in company with the engineer, whom he always referred to as his "chief." He was fond of potent drinks, and sometimes was heard using strong language to the men, in the usual manner of Mediterranean skippers; but he was, nevertheless, a safe man, and had commanded several passenger boats of a well-known line.
I discovered that the particular port-hole at which I was listening was not screwed down tightly, and therefore I could distinguish the voices.
"Recollect," his master went on, "you are not to wait for me. To-morrow evening at dinner you must give the guests to understand that you have received immediate orders to sail, otherwise they may go off to the theatre or somewhere, and you'll experience a difficulty in re-collecting them. Then send for the box, and get away as soon as possible."
"I shan't wait a minute for you, sir, depend upon it. Let me get that box, and the Vispera will soon be steaming past Gorgona."
"And I don't want the guests to think this has been arranged between you and me, recollect. They may consider it rather a slight for neither myself nor my son to be on board. But you must explain next day how business pressed upon me at the last moment, and prevented me from sailing. Tell them I'll join the yacht at Palermo. In fact," he added, "tell them any lies you like. I know you're a glorious liar!"