Forbes's wishes was to spring ashore then and there, if such a
proceeding were practicable, and abandon the adventure whose strange
by-ways were already opening up before his mind's eye.

Then Irene said sympathetically:

"I hope you have not received any bad news, Mr.--Royson."

The captain's pause before addressing him by his real name was intended
to be ironical. Not so the girl's hesitancy. Interpreting Dick's mood
with her woman's intuition, she felt that he wished to drop any
subterfuge now, no matter what his motive might have been in adopting
one hitherto.

Her voice broke the spell which the telegram, with its curious
phrasing, had cast on him.

"No, Miss Fenshawe, not bad news, certainly. Indeed, it was the absence
of any sort of news that troubled me for a moment. _Chasseur_!"

"_Oui, m'sieu_'," and the messenger raised his hat.

"_Voila_!" Dick threw him a franc. "_Il n'a pas de reponse_."

"_Merci bien, m'sieu'_."

That spinning of a coin through the air showed that Royson had made up
his mind. He had tossed with Fortune, and cared not who won.

The messenger drew away from the gangway, and entered into a