"Where?" I asked, in a voice so modulated that it did not reach Legrand.
"Here--the promenade," came back the reply.
I whistled softly, but made no answer. Then I walked away.
"Legrand," said I, "I'm going for a turn. I've got an idea."
"Don't let your idea get you," said he bluffly.
I assured him that I was particular about my personal safety, and with his assistance the door was opened behind the barricade. For the first time for two days I found myself on the deck and in the open air. Hastily glancing about me to make sure that no mutineers were in the neighbourhood, I walked to the foot of the ladder that gave access to the promenade-deck above and quickly clambered to the top. At first I could see no sign of Holgate, and then a head emerged from behind the raised skylights and he beckoned to me.
"Sit here, doctor," said he. "You'll be safe here. No harm shall come to you."
He indicated a seat under cover of one of the extra boats which was swung inside the promenade-deck for use in the event of emergencies, and he himself set me the example of sitting.
"I suppose you've come armed," he said. I tapped my breast-pocket significantly.
"So!" said he, smiling. "Well, you're plucky, but you're not a fool; and I won't forget that little affair downstairs. I'll admit you might have dusted me right up, if you'd chosen. But you didn't. You had a clear head and refrained."
"On the contrary," said I, "I've been thinking ever since what a dolt I was not to shoot."
"You don't shoot the man at the wheel, lad," said he with a grin.
"Oh, you weren't that; you were only the enemy. Why, we struck half an hour later."
"Yes," he assented. "But we're not down under yet. And you can take your solemn Alfred that that's where we should be now if you hadn't let me pass. No, doctor, you spared the rod and saved the ship."
"Well, she's piled up, my good sir," I declared.
"So she is," he admitted. "But she's saved all the same. And I'll let you into a little secret, doctor. What d'ye suppose my men are busy about, eh? Why, pumping--pumping for all they're worth. I keep 'em well employed, by thunder." He laughed. "If it's not fight, it's pump, and if it weren't pump, by the blazes it would be fight. So you owe me one, doctor, you and those fine friends of yours who wouldn't pick you out of a gutter."