“We returned to the wreck before three, after an unsuccessful search for the rest of the fleet. We took the Castle William in tow; and now we are bound for Portsmouth, England. If you were not informed in regard to the movements of the steamer, I think you were the only officer on board who was in the dark.” Gregory and Clinch were jealous of the officers of the Tritonia. They had begun to object in the first of the cruise, and even before the steamer was under way. They had kept out of sight of the other officers, and had avoided the captain as far as they could. Gregory had been in charge when the steamer started for the south, after the fog lifted. O’Hara had tried to talk with him; but he was so stiff and distant that the captain gave it up, and allowed him to live within his own shell. He had been relieved by Clinch at ten in the evening; and the third officer was no more inclined to be sociable than the first. At midnight Speers had been called, and, as soon as he took the trumpet, the course of the steamer had been changed to the northward again. In the last half of this watch, when Raymond had the deck, the wreck had been taken in tow. The captain remained on deck long enough to ascertain that the Ville d’Angers was making ten knots an hour, with the ship in tow; and he hoped in the morning to do even better than this. Thus it turned out that Gregory and Clinch knew nothing of the destination of the steamer. Possibly Gregory was as much astonished as he pretended to be, when Raymond told him the vessel was bound to England. He had certainly been ugly ever since he came on board. It seemed to him in the beginning, that O’Hara ignored him in re-organizing the watches, and especially in not speaking to him about the quarter-watches. But then, he was looking for a cause of offence; and those who look for it are sure to find it. “Though I am the first officer of the steamer, I have not been consulted about any thing,” replied Gregory, in answer to Raymond’s remark. “I do not know that any of the officers have been consulted,” added Raymond, who did not like the attitude of Gregory. “I suppose I was ignored because I came from the Josephine. The Tritonia’s officers seem to be in the ascendant on board of this vessel,” continued Gregory, in the most forbidding of tones. “I don’t think it can make any difference what vessel the officers came from.” “Tell that to the marines! isn’t the captain hand and glove with Speers, the second officer? Are they not together all the time they can be?” demanded the irate watch-officer. “I think Speers has been consulted no more than you or I have,” replied Raymond, moving away from the pilot-house; for he saw that it was of no use to argue the point with one so unreasonable as Gregory showed himself to be. “Hold on a minute, Mr. Raymond,” interposed the discontented officer. “Do you think it is right for the captain to disregard his orders, and take the steamer to England?”