--fairly caught. I may not be a specially fit person to
punish you for it, but you won't be let off on that account."

"Go ahead, sir!" said Toby, with his hands twisted into a bony knot in
front of him.

And Saltash went ahead. His heart was not in the business, and as he
smote the narrow bent back it cried shame on him. Toby made no sound, but
at the third stroke he winced, and Saltash with a terrific oath in French
hurled his switch violently at the opposite wall.

"There! Don't do it again!" he said, and swung him round to face him.
"Sorry? What?"

Then he saw that Toby was crying, and abruptly let him go, striding out
through the dining-saloon and up the companion-way, swearing strange
oaths in varied languages as he went.

He was openly rude to Larpent when the latter sauntered up for a word
with him a little later, but Larpent, knowing him, merely hunched his
shoulders as his custom was and sauntered away again.

When Saltash went down to dress for dinner, he found his clothes laid out
as usual, but no Toby in attendance. His first impulse was to look for
him, but he checked it and dressed in solitude. This thing must be
conducted in the approved judicial manner at all costs.

Larpent was stolidly awaiting him in the saloon, and they sat down
together. Usually Toby stood behind his master's chair, and the vacant
place oppressed Saltash. He talked jerkily, with uneasy intervals of
silence.

Larpent talked not at all beyond the demands of ordinary courtesy. He ate
well, drank sparingly, and when not listening to Saltash's somewhat
spasmodic conversation appeared immersed in thought. When the meal was
over, he refused coffee, and rose to go on deck.

Then, abruptly, Saltash stayed him. "Larpent, wait a minute--unless
you're in a hurry! Have a cigar with me!"

Larpent paused, looking across at the dark, restless face with the air of
a man making a minute calculation. "Shall we smoke on deck, my lord?" he
said at length.

Saltash sprang up as though he moved on wires. "Yes, all right. Get the
cigars, Murray!" he commanded the steward; and to Larpent as the man went
to obey, "That's decent of you. Thought you were going to refuse. I was
damned offensive a while back. Accept my apologies! Fact is--I'm fed up
with this show. Sorry if I disappoint you, but I'm going home."

"You never disappoint me, my lord," said Larpent, with his enigmatical
smile.

Saltash gave him a keen look and uttered a laugh that w