ought to have thought of the mate getting uneasy when you didn't turn up
last night, and going to the police-station with a description of you."

The skipper started and smote the table with his fist.

"Father's gone down to watch the ship now," said Miss Pilbeam. "Of
course, it's the exact description of the man that assaulted him.
Providential he called it."

"That's the worst of having a fool for a mate," said the skipper,
bitterly. "What business was it of his, I should like to know? What's
it got to do with him whether I turn up or not? What does he want to
interfere for?"

"It's no good blaming him," said Miss Pilbeam, thinking deeply, with her
chin on her finger. "The thing is, what is to be done? Once father gets
his hand on you----"

She shuddered; so did the skipper.

"I might get off with a fine; I didn't hurt him," he remarked.

Miss Pilbeam shook her head. "They're very strict in Woodhatch," she
said.

"I was a fool to touch him at all," said the repentant skipper. "High
spirits, that's what it was. High spirits, and being spoken to as if I
was a child."

"The thing is, how are you to escape?" said the girl. "It's no good