any harm to tell him we know it, and may do him good, for it is clear
he does not like telling it himself, and may be dreading our
questioning about the affair."

Mrs. Dowsett and Nellie went into Cyril's room as soon as they had
finished breakfast. Captain Dave followed them a few minutes later.

"We have been hearing how you got burnt," he began. "Your friend,
Lord Oliphant, sent a letter about it by the skipper of his yacht.
That stupid fellow, John, has been carrying it about ever since, and
only remembered it just now, when we were at breakfast. It was a
plucky thing to do, lad."

"It turned out a very lucky one," Cyril said hastily, "for it was the
means of saving my life."

"Saving your life, lad! What do you mean?"

Cyril then told how Robert Ashford and Black Dick had been brought on
board as impressed men, how the former had been killed, and the
confession that Black Dick had made to him before dying.

"He said he had made up his mind to kill me during the fight, but
that, after I had risked my life to save the _Henrietta_, he was
ashamed to kill me, and that, rather than do so, he had resolved to
take his chance of my denouncing him when he returned to land."

"There was some good in the knave, then," Captain Dave said. "Yes,
it was a fortunate as well as a brave action, as it turned out."