No sooner had the Endeavor passed her hawsers to the wharf at Falmouth than the stalwart young mate leaped ashore and struck out for a white cottage as his journey’s end. His ruddy cheek was freshly shaven, and the blue serge suit was smartly cut. A very proper figure of a sailor and a man to steer clear of in a quarrel, he looked fit to fight Eudora’s battles as well as his own. She had decided to forewarn him of the situation, but to say nothing in prejudice of William Marmaduke Mannice. Let Dan form his own judgment and then advise her.
They therefore met in the road near home, quite by chance, of course, because he must not think she had come to look for him. Wistfulness shadowed his engaging features, for he hoped that absence might have made her fonder, but she gave no sign beyond a gracious friendliness as they shook hand's and moved toward the cottage.
“Yes, I am truly glad to see you, Dan,” said Eudora. “A good run, was it, from Norfolk?”
“Fair. We lost a barge in a squall off Cape Cod, but picked her up again,” said the resonant voice. “Snatched her oft the shoals just before she bumped. A line parted and knocked me overboard. How goes it with you? Whew, but the days do drag when I’m way! It’s worse every voyage, Eudora.”
“Pooh! They say you have a girl in every port, Eton.”
“They lie,” exclaimed the mate, “and you know better. I’m making a good record these days. Won’t you give me any credit for it?”
“Indeed I do, and there are times when I’m proud of you,” was her sweetly candid assurance. “But we must talk about something else just now. My sensible father has decided to go roaming off to find a buried treasure, and I am completely upset.”
“He has talked that foolishness until he believes there is something in it?” was the cheerful query. “Well, we’ll just have to talk him out of it. A restless fit, I presume. He wants some excuse to go to sea again. What touched him off?”
“A man named Mannice, who found a pirate’s chart in the old Wanderer, Dan, he is some kind of a newspaper writer. Father ha‘s taken a great fancy to him.”
“A young man, is he?” And Mr. Sloan scowled. This exhibition of temper seemed to please Eudora, who smiled demurely as she replied:
“Fairly young, and quite captivating. Don’t look so wrathy, please. I am only quoting his opinion of himself. I don’t like him, and I wish that father had never laid eyes on him.”
“Some kind of a crooked game in the wind, Eudora?” briskly demanded Dan, who was clearing for action.
“I don’t know. There is nothing that I can put a finger on. But I feel uneasy and helpless. They won’t tell me anything definite. Father and I have always been so chummy. Now he won’t even consult me.”
“About this chart,” slowly remarked Dan. “Have you seen it? Can I get a squint at it? This Mannice rooster knew where to find it?”
“He got on the track of it, yes. I’m sure they will refuse to tell you anything about it. So please ask no questions when you meet them. It would only make it harder for me.”
“I see. I might be able to give you some idea of what the chart amounts to. Your dad is a first-rate navigator, but in a case like this his judgment is befogged. It’s easy for a man to believe a thing when his mind has a slant that way. He actually talks of sailing somewhere?”
“They are planning it now, Dan. In a vessel of their own. It will cost a lot of money.”
“Well, it will take some time to charter and outfit, and all that,” the sailor soothingly suggested. “Meanwhile, the skipper may wake up from this pipe dream. And I can look up this Mannice proposition. I’m acquainted with ship-news reporters from Boston to Baltimore, and if there is anything wrong with the man, they will be glad to run it out for me. I’ll stand by, Eudora.”
“I know you will,” she softly told him, and the intonations moved him beyond words. They seemed to be drawn closer together than he had hitherto dared hope for. His hand sought hers, but she eluded him, and a moment later they were turning into the cottage. Mannice and the captain walked a path arm in arm, as though the little garden were their own quarter-deck. When Eudora appeared with the mate of the Endeavor, the two treasure seekers halted in their tracks and seemed a trifle startled. It amused Eudora, who had never seen her father look so like a naughty boy caught in the act. Evidently he regarded Dan Sloan as an untimely intruder, but he recovered his hearty manner and presented his friend, Mr. William Marmaduke Mannice.