I led him across the deck until we reached the companion, when I
released my grip on his elbow.
"Tell me, you old scoundrel," I said, "did anyone except you and that
confounded sailor see what was going on?"
He chuckled again. "What can you expect," he enquired, "if you will
choose the public ocean on which to perform these feats of chivalry?"
"There wasn't any chivalry about it," I said. "The blighters tried
to blackmail us into giving them a couple of quid. In fact, they had
the infernal cheek to threaten to put us ashore on the sands if we
didn't pay up."
Ross smiled provokingly. "I should have thought that would have just
suited you," he observed. "You would make a very nice Paul and
Virginia."
"It wouldn't have suited Miss de Roda," I returned. "As it is, she's
worried to death with the idea that someone will go and tell her
uncle about that scrap in the boat. She thinks it will give him
another heart attack, and, seeing the sort of doctor we've got on
board, I must say I rather sympathize with her."
He took my shaft quite imperturbably.
"I thought you would get the poor girl into trouble sooner or later,"
he remarked. "Still, thanks to me, it's not as bad as it might have
been. I was the only one on board with a pair of glasses, and, when
the others asked me what was happening, I told them the gentleman you
sloshed on the jaw had managed to catch a crab. It was some crab, by
the way, wasn't it? I hate lying, but I knew that your natural
modesty would shrink from anything like a public ovation."
I stopped outside my cabin. "Ross," I said feelingly, "you may be a
bad doctor, but you're a damned good pal. You shall have a double
whisky for this."