"Come along, pup," he said. "Let us sample Dr. Christobal's cookery.
You have shared my watch; now you shall share my breakfast. We have
both earned it."
It was in his mind to knock loudly on Elsie's door and awaken her;
therefore he was dimly conscious of a feeling of disappointment when he
saw her, in company with Christobal, leaning over the rail of the
promenade deck, and evidently discussing the weird beauty of the scene
spread before her wondering eyes.
The ship was now so sheltered by the shoulder of the southern cape that
the keen breeze yet rushing in from the sea passed hundreds of feet
above her masts. There was nothing more than a tidal swell on the
surface of the water, in which the heavy-laden vessel rested as in a
dock. In the new and extraordinary quietude the light thud of the
donkey-engine sounded with a strange distinctness, and Elsie and her
companion heard Courtenay's approaching footsteps almost as soon as he
gained the deck.
Instantly she ran towards him, with hands out-stretched.
"Let me be the first to congratulate you," she cried, her cheeks
mantling with a rush of color and her lips quivering with excitement.
"How wonderful of you to bring the ship through all those awful reefs
and things! No; you must not say you have done nothing marvelous. Dr.
Christobal has told me everything. Next to Providence, Captain
Courtenay, we owe our lives to you."
Courtenay felt it would hurt her were he to smile at her earnestness.
But he did say: "Surely it is not so very remarkable that I should do my best to
safeguard the ship and such of her passengers and crew as survive last
night's ordeal."
"I know that quite well. Even I would have striven to help when my
life was at stake. But the really wonderful thing is that you should
have guessed an unknown track in the dark; that you should actually be
able to guide a helpless ship through waters so full of dangers that it
would be folly to venture in their midst in broad daylight and with
full steam-power."
Then Courtenay took off his sou'wester, and bowed.
"I had no idea I had such expert critics on board. Is it you,
Christobal, who has followed the ship's course so closely?"
"Not I, my dear fellow. Miss Maxwell is only saying what I feel,
indeed, but could not have expressed as admirably. Our silent friend,
Tollemache, is the man who observes. I was so amazed when I came on
deck half an hour ago that I sought him out, and he told me something
of the night's later happenings. So I took the liberty of arousing
Miss Maxwell from a very sound sleep, but we thought it best not to
disturb you by appearing on the bridge until you had done everything
you had planned."