"O' course you do; you've got the salt
in your blood, but this peaceful cruising is beginning to tell on you.
There's a touch o' wildness in you, sir, that's always struggling to come
to the front. Peter Duckett was saying the same thing only the other
day. He's very uneasy about it."
"Uneasy!" repeated Mr. Chalk.
"Aye," said the captain, drawing a deep breath. "And if I tell you that
I am too, it wouldn't be outside the truth."
"But why?" inquired Mr. Chalk, after they had paced once up and down the
deck in silence.
"It's the mystery we don't like," said Brisket, at last. "How are we to
know what desperate venture you are going to let us in for? Follow you
faithful we will, but we don't like going in the dark; it ain't quite
fair to us."
"There's not the slightest danger in the world," said Mr. Chalk, with
impressive earnestness.
"But there's a mystery; you can't deny that," said the captain.
Mr. Chalk cleared his throat. "It's a secret," he said, slowly.
"From me?" inquired the captain, in reproachful accents.
"It isn't my secret," said Mr. Chalk. "So far as I'm concerned I'd tell
you with pleasure."
The captain slowly withdrew his arm from Mr.
Pages:
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238