Do as you think best, Mulgate; and I shall be able to explain in a satisfactory manner my failure to obtain this vessel." "The fault will be mine, I suppose," muttered Mulgate.
"The court-martial will decide that point," replied the captain.
Mulgate seemed to be buried in his own reflections, no doubt suggested by the last remark of the other.

Possibly he considered that the failure of such an important enterprise because he had insisted upon bringing a lady into the affair would not sound well at home.

Whatever he was thinking about, he was greatly agitated, and Captain Carboneer walked in the direction of the road, half a mile from the river.

He had no time to consider the matter: he must yield at once, or abandon the scheme.
"I will do anything you ask, Captain Carboneer!" he shouted, forgetting, in his excitement, the demand for secrecy.
The naval officer, as his conversation indicated that he was, turned and retraced his steps to the beach.

He did not seem to be at all excited because his associate had changed his mind, for in his judgment it would have been worse than madness for him to persist in his intentions.
"I have stated the case as I understand it, and I have nothing more to say, Mulgate," said he.
"I renounce my scheme, and I will not ask that the lady be a passenger even to Bermuda or Nassau," replied Mulgate, though not without a considerable display of emotion.
"Very well; that is enough.