"No message, eh? Now, do you know, that seems to me exceedingly
strange," Crawshay ruminated.

"I don't see why it should," was the somewhat brusque reply. "I have
no doubt that the New York papers have some wonderful headlines--'How
an Englishman catches the steamer!' or 'An English diplomatist, eager
to fight'--and all that sort of thing. But apart from the spectacular
side of it, I don't suppose they consider your adventure of national
interest."

"On the contrary, it is the development of a new era," Crawshay
replied, with dignity. "Just consider what actually happened. I miss
the steamer, owing to the breakdown of the Chicago Limited and a
subsequent automobile accident. I arrive at the dock whilst you are in
the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. What do I do? What no one else
has ever done before! I fly after you! Romance has never pictured such
a thing. I am a pioneer, Captain."

The Captain grinned.

"You've been pretty sorry for yourself ever since," he observed.

"I must confess that I made up my mind to the heroic deed in a rash
moment," Crawshay acknowledged. "I am a person of strong and
unconquerable impulses. You see, that exceedingly disagreeable
American policeman who was sent up to Halifax on a fool's errand with
me, and who subsequently led me on another to Chicago, bet me five
hundred dollars, as we stood upon the dock, that I couldn't catch that
steamer. Now if there is one thing," he went on, crossing his legs,
"which excites my interest more than another, it is a bet."