e!" he exclaimed as he
approached the two. "Well, Jack," he continued, "so you arrived up to
time, eh? And by the look of the boat I should say that you've got the
stuff on board; is that so? Ah! that's all right; I am precious glad to
hear it, I can tell you, for to have those cases accumulating here day
after day has been a source of great anxiety to me."

"Sorry!" remarked Jack cheerfully. "But why should they worry you, old
chap? Everything is securely packed in air-tight, zinc-lined cases, so
that there was really no very serious cause for anxiety or fear, even of
an explosion. Such a thing could not possibly happen except by the
downright deliberate act of some evil--disposed individual; and I don't
think--"

"Precisely," interrupted Murdock; "that was just what was worrying me--
at least, it was one of the things that was worrying me. Not on account
of our own people, mind you; I believe them to be loyal and trustworthy
to a man. But I cannot help thinking that some hint of your expedition
must have leaked out, for we have never had so many strangers about the
place since I have been in the business as we have had during the last
fortnight, while those cases have been arriving. We have simply been
overwhelmed with business enquiries of every description--enquiries as
to our facilities for the execution of repairs; enquiries as to the
quickest time in which we could build and deliver new ships; enquiries
respecting new engines and machinery of every conceivable kind, not one
of which will probably come to anything. And the thing that troubled me
most was that every one of these people wanted to be shown over the
place from end to end, in order that they might judge for themselves, as
they explained, whether our works were sufficiently extensive and up-to-
date to enable us to execute the particular kind of work that they
wanted done: and every mother's son of them gravitated, sooner or later,
to the spot where those precious cases of yours were stacked, and seemed
profoundly interested in them; while one chap, who was undoubtedly a
foreigner, had the impudence to insinuate that the marks and addresses
on the cases, indicating that they were sugar machinery for Mauritius,
were bogus! I sent him to the rightabout pretty quickly, I can tell
you. Why, what the dickens are you laughing at, man? It is no laughing
matter, I give you my word!"

For Jack had burst into a fit of hearty laughter at Murdock's r