"Balgarnie, me lad," said Captain Image, "you'll have to keep that hard collar of yours bent for two days longer. You'll be pleased to hear that Miss Kate's not going to throw us over yet. Just you go and see the chief steward and the cook and ask them what they've got left in the refrigerator. And I want you to break the rule of the ship, and make all the other passengers jealous, and dine at my table in honor of the occasion. Come in, Miss, and please take the settee. You'll find this cushion soft and free from mildew." Kate smiled gratefully on them both. "What dear, good people you are. And I made sure you would detest me, Captain, when I tell you I want you to change from your usual routine." Captain Image's face stiffened. "Even though it is to get all your holds full of cargo which you would never have touched if it had not been for a hint that just came to me an hour ago." "We carry mails, you know," said Image doubtfully, "and there's a scheduled time for call at the various points, and a bad time for being late. Bad----" "But cargo. Let me suggest to you again, cargo?" "Well, Miss Kate, there's no other lady on earth I'd say the same to, but I'll not deny the fact--to you, mind, and quite between ourselves--that cargo interests me. And letting you further into what's considered one of the deadest of secrets, there are times when cargo commission can just out-balance fines for being late with mails. You see I guess what you have in your mind, Miss. You want me to run back and take off the cargo that's waiting at Malla-Nulla before those Okky-men come down and raid it." Miss O'Neill lay back against the cushion and sipped composedly at her hard-boiled tea. "There," she said, "I knew you'd consent. There's only one little detail you've made a mistake about. How soon can you be off? Judging from the music of the winches, you're working in the cargo here at a famous speed." "The mate reported to me just before you came on board that he'd have the lot shipped by five o'clock. Those passenger boys of ours that you've made factory boys for the time being were working splendidly, so Mr. Mate said. But what's this little mistake, Miss Kate? I can't go right away back to O'Neill and Craven's factory at Monk River, if that's what you mean." "Oh, my dear Captain Image, don't think me unreasonable. I shouldn't dream of asking you to do such a thing as that. I don't even want you to go out over Smooth River bar for the present. But I'd better tell you just what's happened. You see all afternoon the Krooboys who had run away have been coming back, and some of the clerks have turned up, and then came Mr. and Mrs. da Silva. We had quite a gathering of it, and as Mr. Carter set them all on to digging holes and tidying things away as they arrived, by this time all the--well, you wouldn't know there'd been fighting.