"Why not?" Dan'l demanded acidly. "Are you waiting for a squall to tear
it off?"
Willis Cox said: "I had it made fast, sir. Before Mr. Brander came on
deck."
Dan'l crimsoned in spite of himself; old Tichel grinned unpleasantly.
Brander smiled; and Faith looked at Dan'l and waited for his word of
acknowledgment. Dan'l saw her eyes.... He said to Brander: "Then, of
course, you couldn't make it fast. Why didn't you say so--since it was
done before you came on deck?"
Brander said soberly: "Sorry, sir." But his eyes were twinkling. What
use to explain; Dan'l could not be in a worse light. And Dan'l knew it.
He said hotly:
"What is so funny?..."
Noll Wing rumbled from the head of the table, where he had seemed
concerned only with his food: "Let be. Let be. The thing is done. That's
all that's needful, Mr. Tobey."