"Good day t'ye! I'll be no seein' ye this way again!"
"Why not? How do you know?"
"One way in and another way out!" he said, his voice sinking to a sort
of meditative croon--"One road to the West, and the other to the
East!--and round about to the meeting-place! Ou ay! Ye'll mak it clear
sailin'!"
"Without wind, eh?" interposed Captain Derrick--"Like your friend the
'shentleman'? How does he manage that business?"
Jamie looked round with a frightened air, like an animal scenting
danger,--then, shouldering his empty basket, he gave us a hasty nod of
farewell, and, scrambling down the companion ladder without another
word, was soon in his boat again, rowing away steadily and never once
looking back.
"A wild chap!" said the captain--"Many of these fellows get half daft,
living so much alone in desolate places like Mull, and seeing nothing
all their time but cloud and mountain and sea. He seems to know
something about that yacht, though!"
"That yacht is on your brain, Captain!" I said, merrily--"I feel quite
sorry for you! And yet I daresay if we meet her again the mystery will
turn out to be very simple."
"It will have to be either very simple or very complex!" he answered,
with a laugh--"I shall need a good deal of teaching to show me how a
sailing yacht can make steam speed without wind. Ah, good morning, sir!"
And we both turned to greet Mr. Harland, who had just come up on deck.
He looked ill and careworn, as though he had slept badly, and he showed
but faint interest in the tale of the strange yacht's sudden exit.
"It amuses you, doesn't it?"--he said, addressing me with a little
cynical smile wrinkling up his forehead and eyes--"Anything that cannot
be at once explained is always interesting and delightful to a woman!
That is why spiritualistic 'mediums' make money. They do clever tricks
which cannot be explained, hence their success with the credulous."
"Quite so"--I replied--"but just allow me to say that I am no believer
in 'mediums.'"
"True,--I forgot!" He rubbed his hand wearily over his brows--then
asked--"Did you sleep well?"
"Splendidly! And I must really thank you for my lovely rooms,--they are
almost too luxurious! They are fit for a princess."
"Why a princess?" he queried, ironically--"Princesses are not always
agreeable personages. I know one or two,--fat, ugly and stupid. Some of
them are dirty in their persons and in their habits. There are certain
'princesses' in Europe who ought to be washed and disinfected before
being given any rooms anywhere!"