ighteous
indignation.

"No, no; of course not, old chap," answered Jack, manfully struggling to
suppress his mirth; "awfully annoying it must have been, I'm sure.
Well, is that all?"

"No," answered Murdock indignantly, "it is not; nor is it the worst.
Only the day before yesterday we had a man poking about here who said he
was from the Admiralty. He wanted nothing in particular for the moment,
he said, but was simply making a tour of the principal shipyards of the
country, with the view of ascertaining what were the facilities of each
for the execution of Admiralty work. He, too, was vastly interested in
those precious cases of yours, so much so, indeed, that I should not
have been at all surprised if he had asked to have the whole lot of them
opened! Oh, yes! of course I know he could not have gone to such a
length as that without assigning some good and sufficient reason; but I
tell you, Jack, that we are playing a dangerous game, and I will not be
a party to a repetition of it. A pretty mess we should be in if the
British Government were to discover that we are aiding and abetting
insurgents in arms against the authority of a friendly Power! Why, it
would mean nothing short of ruin--absolute ruin--to us!"

"Yes, you are quite right, old chap, it would," agreed Jack soberly;
"and if Senor Montijo wants to ship any more stuff after this, it must
not be through this yard. But it is all aboard and out of sight now,
and we leave for--um--Mauritius, shall we say?--this afternoon; so there
is no need for you to worry any further about it."

"Well, to be perfectly candid with you, Jack," said Murdock, "I shall
not be at all sorry to see the _Thetis_ safely away from this and on her
way down the river, for I shall not be quite comfortable and easy in my
mind until I do. And you will have to be very careful what you are
about, my boy; `there is no smoke without fire', and all this fuss and
prying about of which I have been telling you means something, you may
depend. It would not very greatly surprise me if you discover that you
are being followed and watched."

"We must take our chance of that," laughed Jack. "Not that I am very
greatly afraid. The fact is, Murdock, that you are constitutionally a
nervous man, and you have worried yourself into a perfect state of scare
over this business. But never mind, your anxiety will soon be over now,
for here comes our coal, if I am not mistaken; and I promise you that