"I'll just go over it with you, Selwyn," he said, when he reached his cabin again. "Now you must remember I rely on your discretion. A wrong step may land us in trouble with the authorities and the Admiralty. There never was a Government department yet which wouldn't resent losing a fine chance of a paper row, and if they catch me settling this matter out of hand, my name is Dennis, as the Americans say. And I don't want your name to be Dennis either." "Well, what do you propose, Sir Richard?" asked Selwyn. "This is rightly your show and mine," said the admiral. "I won't have any one else in it, that I can help. I ought to speak to Hamilton, but I won't. I'll keep him out of the trouble"--for Hamilton was the captain of the _Triumphant_. "I suppose the men here _are_ really fond of me?" said the admiral interrogatively. "They have no monopoly of that," said Selwyn. "Is there any one of them you could drop a hint to, that you could trust?" "Of course," said Selwyn; "there's Benson, whose father works for mine as gardener. We used to fight in the toolhouse at home, and now he would jump overboard if I asked him." "Do you mean Benson, my coxs'n?" "Yes, sir." "He's the very man. You might let him know that if he should get into any trouble, he will be paid for it. I leave the rest to you. You can go ashore now, with this note to Stanley. That will give you a chance to take Benson with you and speak to him on the quiet. I don't know that I care particularly to hear any more about it till the day after to-morrow, unless I have to. Ultimately all the responsibility is mine, of course." And by that Selwyn understood rightly enough that Dicky Dunn, for all his cunning, had no intention of shirking trouble if trouble came. He went ashore and took Benson up town with him. "Do the men think it was Shanghai Smith that laid for us, and put the admiral away, Benson?" he asked as they went up Market Street. "There ain't the shadder of a doubt 'e done it, sir," said Benson. "And they don't like it?" "Lord bless you, sir. It's very 'ard 'avin' all liberty stopped, but between you and me it was wise to stop it. They would 'ave rooted 'is 'ouse up and shied the wreckage into the bay." "It's a pity that you and about twenty more couldn't do it," said Selwyn. "And if one could only catch hold of the man himself and put him on board an outward-bound ship, it would do him good." Benson slapped his leg. "Oh, sir, there ain't a man on board the _Triumphant_ that wouldn't do six months with pleasure to 'ave the 'andlin' of 'im." "No?" "For sure, sir." "I was lying awake last night thinking of it," said Selwyn; "at least, I believe I was awake--perhaps I was dreaming. But I seemed to think that a couple of boats' crews were ashore, and that you went to Shanghai's place for a drink." "I've done that same, sir," said Benson, "and the liquor was cruel bad."