"I understood you saved a cabin-boy." "Pray continue!" he said lightly.

"What of the cabin-boy?
None the worse, I hope ?" The doctor's lank figure drew together with a stiff movement of distaste.
"I see," he said, "that you are aware of a certain fact which I must admit has given me a somewhat unpleasant surprise." Saltash turned abruptly to the captain.

"You ask me if I had a passenger," he said, speaking briefly, with a hint of hauteur.

"Before you also begin to be unpleasantly surprised, let me explain that I had a child on board who did not belong to the ship's company." "A child ?" Captain Beaumont looked at him in astonishment.

"I thought--I understood--Do you mean the boy ?" "Not a boy, no,--a girl!" Saltash's voice was suddenly very suave; he was smiling still, but there was something rather formidable about his smile.
"A young girl, Captain Beaumont, but amply protected, I assure you.