They got back to the _Seamew_ at seven o’clock, and greeting Henry, who was in sole charge, with fair words and soothing compliments, persuaded him to make them some tea. “Where’s Dick?” inquired Sam casually as he sat drinking it. “Ain’t seen ’im since dinner,” said the boy. “I thought he was with you p’raps.” Sam shook his head, and finishing his tea went on deck with the cook, and gave himself up to all the delights of a quiet sprawl. Fatigued with their exertions, neither of them moved until nine o’clock, and then, with a farewell glance in the direction in which Dick might be expected to come, went below and turned in. They left the lamp burning, to the great satisfaction of Henry, who was reading, and, as ten o’clock struck somewhere in the town, exchanged anxious glances across the foc’sle concerning Dick’s safety. Safe and warm in their bunks, it struck both of them that they had been perhaps a little bit selfish. Half an hour later Henry looked up suddenly as something soft leaped on to the deck above and came pattering towards the foc’sle. The next moment his surprise gave way to indignation, and he raised his voice in tones of expostulation which Mrs. Grundy herself would have envied. “_Dick!_” he cried shrilly. “_Dick!_” “Shut up!” said Dick fiercely as he flung himself panting on a locker. “O my Lord, I have had a time!” “I’m surprised at you,” said Henry severely, as he dragged some blankets from the bunks and threw them over the exhausted seaman. “Where’s your modesty, Dick?” “If you say another word I’ll knock yer ugly little head off!” said Dick wrathfully. “If I hadn’t been modest I should have come home by daylight. Oh, I have had a time! I have had a time!” “Where’s your clothes?” inquired Henry. “How the devil should I know?” snapped the other. “I left ’em on the beach while I went for a swim, and when I comeback they’d gone. I’ve been sittin’ on that damned cold shingle since three o’clock this arternoon, and not a soul come near me! It’s the first time I’ve been lookin’ for Cap’n Gething, and it’ll be the last.” “Oh, you’ve been at it, ’ave yer!” said Henry. “I told you you chaps would get in a mess over that.” “You know a damned sight too much for your age!” growled Dick. “There’s no call to say anything to Sam and the cook about it, mind.” “Why not?” said Henry. “Cos I say you’re not to,” said Dick ferociously. “That’s why.” “P’raps they know,” said Henry quietly. “Seems to me Sam’s listenin’ in his sleep.”