“Captain Ringgold!” exclaimed Scoble, as he confronted the commander when he leaped from the cutter. “I am extremely happy to see you, sir.” “Happier perhaps than I am to see you,” replied the captain bluffly. “I have had the honor to be kidnapped by you, and that is not the way one gentleman treats another.” “But the force of circumstances compelled”-- “I don’t care a straw for the force of circumstances, for I know all about them; and the force of circumstances only increased the force of your rascality. As a shipwrecked mariner, it was my duty to save you and your ship’s company, and I have done so; but the duty was made pleasant by the fact that the fate of others whom I respect and revere was involved with yours.” “Then, captain, you would have permitted me to perish on the wreck which has just gone to pieces, if my wife and that pettifogger’s cub had not been with me?” demanded Scoble with a sneer. “I did not say that, or mean it,” replied the captain with dignity. “We need not quarrel, Captain Ringgold, for I am indebted to you for saving me and my companions,” continued Scoble, smothering his ill-feeling. “I need not say that I am astonished to find you here in command of a fine steamer; but I suppose you are here in the interest of that unlicked whelp of my wife.” “I will not tolerate such language on board of my ship!” said the captain sternly, as Louis stepped from the _boudoir_, where he had remained to observe the scene. “Oh, so you are here too!” ejaculated Scoble, when he saw his former stepson for the first time. “I am here, John Scoble, and I would have followed you all over the world to redeem my mother from your poison fangs!” responded the young man, indignant at the invective of Scoble. “You will have a chance to do it yet, perhaps,” replied the late captain of the Maud, now no more. “I wish to be reasonable, Captain Ringgold, and I appeal to your sense of honor and justice. This boy, this young scapegrace, has contrived to rob me of my wife, and has done so by force and violence.” “If you apply another offensive epithet to that young gentlemen, Captain Scoble, I will lock you up in a stateroom!” interposed the commander, with energy. “Mr. Belgrave must be treated with respect by all on board of this steamer. If you cannot learn to do so, my men will show you to your stateroom.” “_Mister_ Belgrave seems to be in clover here. A young gentleman is he?” sneered Scoble. “Is this a passenger steamer, one of the line to the Bermudas?” “No, sir! This is a private steam-yacht, and she is owned by Mr. Louis Belgrave,” added the captain. “Owned by him!” exclaimed the captain of the Maud. “You do not seem to have learned the latest news in New York, and especially in Von Blonk Park,” continued the commander with quiet dignity. “You know something about a missing million; and, through the mother of Mr. Belgrave, you intended and expected to obtain possession of it, even at the sacrifice of the young gentleman’s life.”