"As you insist, I will do so. Your reputation among the respectable people of Funchal, where you go occasionally in your steamer, is so bad, so black, that I should not be justified in introducing you to any true lady," replied the commander boldly and resolutely, hoping this plain statement would put an end to the attempts of the Moor to force himself into the presence of his cabin party. "This is an unmitigated insult, and I hold you responsible for it, Captain Ringgold!" roared the Pacha, loud enough to be heard on board of the Guardian-Mother. "A friend of mine will wait upon you to-morrow, sir!" "In advance I decline to receive either you or any friend of yours. I think it is time to terminate this interview." "You are a coward, sir!" "I have nothing more to say." "But I have. You have interfered with my affairs. You have on board of your steamer a young fellow who ran away from my service," continued Noury more calmly as he came down to business. "His name is Scott." "Scott is my apprentice, bound to me by his father in writing: and when he was seen in Funchal, he was taken and brought back." "Very well; let that pass. This little steamer was stolen from me by the engineer I employed." "But she was restored to you, made fast to the Fatimé at this mole," replied the captain. "You took possession of her again, and then sold her to a man by the name of Giles Chickworth." "I claim the boat as my property," the Pacha insisted. "You sold her to Chickworth, and I bought her of him." "It was not a legal sale." "I beg your pardon, it was; for I have the bill of sale you gave him, signed by you, and with your flourish," argued the commander, taking the paper from his pocket and unfolding it. He held it up so that the Moor could see his signature. He seemed to be confounded, and had certainly been beaten on every point he had attempted to make. But he was evidently far from satisfied with the result of the conference. He declared that he should cause the arrest of Scott for stealing the suit of clothes he had loaned him; and if he could find the young Spaniard who had stolen his steamer, he would have him arrested also, and have them both sent to Mogadore for trial and punishment. "You have grossly insulted me, Captain Ringgold; and you have refused to give me the satisfaction which one gentleman has the right to demand of another," stormed the Pacha, apparently as a parting shot. "I am not a duellist; and if I were, I do not regard you as a gentleman any more than do the people of Funchal, and I should not feel obliged to accept your challenge," replied the commander very quietly. "Another insult! If I find you in the streets of Gibraltar, I will castigate you as an infidel cur!" foamed the Moor. "If you assault me, I am able to defend myself, and I shall do so," replied the captain as the barge shoved off.