Mr. Selwyn exclaimed, and proceeded to fish for his hat with the shaft of his broken oar.
The Imp sat for a moment half frightened at his handiwork, then rose to his feet, cutlass in hand, but I punted him gently back into his seat with my foot.
"Really," I began, "I'm awfully sorry, you know--er----"
"May I inquire," said Mr. Selwyn cuttingly, as he surveyed his dripping hat--"may I inquire how it all happened?"
"A most deplorable accident, I assure you. If I can tow you back I shall be delighted, and as for the damage----"
"The damage is trifling, thanks," he returned icily; "it is the delay that I find annoying."
"You have my very humblest apologies," I said meekly. "If I can be of any service----"
Mr. Selwyn stopped me with a wave of his hand.
"Thank you, I think I can manage," he said; "but I should rather like to know how it happened. You are unused to rowing, I presume?"
"Sir," I answered, "it was chiefly owing to the hot-headedness of Scarlet Sam, the Scourge of the South Seas."
"I beg your pardon?" said Mr. Selwyn with raised brows.
"Sir," I went on, "at this moment you probably believe yourself to be Mr. Selwyn of Selwyn Park. Allow me to dispel that illusion; you are, on the contrary, Don Pedro Vasquez da Silva, commanding the _Esmeralda_ galleasse, bound out of Santa Cruz. In us you behold Scarlet Sam and Timothy Bone, of the good ship _Black Death_, with the 'skull and crossbones' fluttering at our peak. If you don't see it, that is not our fault."
Mr. Selwyn stared at me in wide-eyed astonishment, then shrugging his shoulders, turned his back upon me and paddled away as best he might.
"Well, Imp," I said, "you've done it this time!"
"'Fraid I have," he returned; "but oh! wasn't it grand--and all that about Don Pedro an' the treasure galleon! I do wish I knew as much as you do, Uncle Dick. I'd be a real pirate then."
So I presently turned and rowed back upstream, not a little perturbed in my mind as to the outcome of the adventure.
"Not a word, mind!" I cautioned as I caught sight of a certain dainty figure watching our approach from the shade of her parasol. The Imp nodded, sighed, and sheathed his cutlass.
"Well!" said Lisbeth as we glided up to the water-stairs; "I wonder what mischief you have been after together?"