The doctor, when he called, shook his hand in congratulation.
“You are doing better than I dared to hope, captain,” said he.
“Can I talk business, doctor?” asked the captain.
“As much as you like. Keep on with the same medicine, Cassidy,” the doctor added to the mate; “I don’t think we can improve on that.”
As soon as the doctor had gone, Cassidy made a confession4 which he had been keeping stored away in his mind for several days. It was a confession of his treachery toward Bob Steele and the rest of his mates aboard the Grampus during the other cruise south to rescue the American consul5.
Captain Nemo, junior, listened in pained surprise. For several minutes after Cassidy finished he did not speak.
“If you’re going to begin drinking again, Cassidy,” said the captain, “I suppose we ought to part company.”
“I’ve taken my last drink,” declared Cassidy.
“Do you mean it?”
203
“I do.”
“And Bob Steele, on his way back from the River Izaral, put you back in the ship as mate?”
“Yes.”
“Well, whatever Bob Steele does is good enough for me. If you were put there as mate, then you stay there.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Cassidy, shaking his captain’s hand.
At that moment a rap fell on the door. Cassidy opened it, and Gaines, Speake, Clackett, and Bob Steele walked into the room.
“Well, well, Bob!” cried Captain Nemo, junior, his face brightening wonderfully at sight of the young motorist, “this is a pleasure, I must say! You’ve brought the entire crew of the Grampus with you, eh?”
“Not quite all of them,” laughed Bob. “Cassidy was here, taking care of you, and we left Dick and Carl aboard for an anchor watch.”
“You fellows act as though you had something on your minds,” observed the captain, giving the three members of the crew a curious look.
“That’s what we have, sir,” answered Gaines. “We have a confession to make.”
“Confession!” muttered the captain. “This seems to be my morning for hearing confessions7. Well, go ahead.”
Thereupon Speake, Gaines, and Clackett, on their part, told the captain exactly what had taken place during this second trip to the River Izaral. Captain Nemo, junior, was dumfounded. Pursing his thin lips, he leaned back in his chair and watched and listened with the utmost attention.
“So,” said he cuttingly, when the recital8 was done, “Bob Steele refused to take my boat south, in response to the request of this scoundrelly don, and you locked204 Bob and Dick in the storage room of the submarine and went off whether they would or no! And you called Bob out of the room to fix the motor and keep the boat from going on the reefs; and you picked up a supposedly shipwrecked crew out of a boat, and the crew turned on you and captured the Grampus; and, with the aid of Miss Sixty, Bob Steele and his friends recovered the boat, captured Fingal, Pitou, and some others, and turned them over to the cruiser Seminole—all of which would not have happened had not you, Speake, Gaines, and Clackett acted in an insubordinate and mutinous9 manner. What had I ought to do with them, Bob?”
“They behaved finely during the fighting and while we were running down the river, past the fort,” replied Bob, “so I don’t think they should be dealt with very severely10, captain.”
“You’re too easy with them, Bob! Look at the trouble they caused you!”
“But see what good luck came out of it, captain. We captured Pitou and Fingal.”
“That isn’t the best thing that has come out of it, Bob,” remarked the captain. “The best thing for me is the fact that this mutinous conduct of Speake, Clackett, and Gaines proves, more than ever, that you are always to be depended on. You refused to sail away on a wild-goose chase after listening to a plausible11 story told by this rascally12 don, and——”
“I took a good deal of stock in the story at the time it was told, captain,” said Bob.
“That may be; but you didn’t let your own desires override13 what you conceived to be your duty. There would have been no merit in your act, for you, if you had not wanted to go with the don, but yet allowed your idea of duty to me hold you back. I am much obliged to you, Speake, Gaines, and Clackett, for af205fording me this added proof that my confidence in Bob Steele is not misplaced. But, if I ever hear of any further mutiny on the Grampus, there will be something happen which none of you will ever forget.
“The U. S. cruiser Seminole is in the harbor, and I am positive that her captain bears some news for me of a very important nature. This may make it necessary for a call to be made upon the officers and crew of the Grampus for some further work. I cannot tell yet as to that, but you’ll receive your orders later. If so it turns out, then your commanding officer will be Bob Steele. Now leave me, all of you, for I have both listened and talked too much, and I am beginning to feel tired. Have the periscope14 ball and mast repaired, Bob, as soon as possible, and call and see me to-night.”
As Bob left the house and made his way along the street, he came suddenly upon Ysabel Sixty, again clad in her feminine clothes and looking like the Ysabel he used to know of old.
“You did not stay long at home, Ysabel,” said Bob.
“I couldn’t,” she answered. “I wanted to find out what your plans were, and how long you expect to remain in Belize.”
“That’s all in doubt, as yet. I am to call on Captain Nemo, junior, to-night, and perhaps he will be able to tell me something about future plans.”
“I hope,” and there was a tremulous earnestness in the girl’s words, “that you are not going to leave Belize very soon.”
“I should like to stay here a little while, Ysabel, myself,” said Bob.
Her face brightened. “And if you are here for a while, you will come often and see me?”
“You may depend upon it,” said Bob, taking her hand cordially. “I shall never forget this last experi206ence of yours, and how you undertook an exceedingly risky15 venture solely16 to be of aid to me.”
There was a gentleman waiting for a word with Bob, and Ysabel, with a glad smile, turned away in the direction of home.
“Se?or Bob Steele?” asked the gentleman, who had been waiting for Ysabel to finish her talk with Bob.
“The same, sir,” replied Bob.
“I, my boy, am Don Ramon Ortega, the Spanish consul in Belize. I wish to beg your pardon for the serious misadventures into which you were plunged17 through the unwarranted use of my name by that unmitigated scoundrel, Don Carlos Valdez.”
“You were not to blame for that, don.”
“Perhaps not, but I feel keenly the trouble which my name—always an honorable one—has caused you. Some time, when my family return from Mexico, I shall hope to see you at my home as an honored guest. Will you come?”
“Certainly, sir, if I am in Belize.”
“I thank you, se?or,” said the don; and then, with a courtly bow, he passed on.
Bob hardly knew whether to laugh or look sober; but when he reflected on how the rascally Don Carlos had juggled18 with the Spanish consul’s name, and used it for base purposes, he felt that perhaps the consul was right in taking the matter so much to heart.
That evening, Pedro was taken ashore19 and lodged20 in the house of Ysabel’s relatives. The next day he took passage to Cuba, and forever cut himself adrift from revolutions and the filibusters21 who foster them.
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1
refreshing
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adj.使精神振作的,使人清爽的,使人喜欢的 | |
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2
slumber
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n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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3
boded
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v.预示,预告,预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 );等待,停留( bide的过去分词 );居住;(过去式用bided)等待 | |
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4
confession
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n.自白,供认,承认 | |
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consul
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n.领事;执政官 | |
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6
fully
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adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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7
confessions
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n.承认( confession的名词复数 );自首;声明;(向神父的)忏悔 | |
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8
recital
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n.朗诵,独奏会,独唱会 | |
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9
mutinous
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adj.叛变的,反抗的;adv.反抗地,叛变地;n.反抗,叛变 | |
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10
severely
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adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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11
plausible
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adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
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12
rascally
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adj. 无赖的,恶棍的 adv. 无赖地,卑鄙地 | |
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13
override
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vt.不顾,不理睬,否决;压倒,优先于 | |
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14
periscope
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n. 潜望镜 | |
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15
risky
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adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
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16
solely
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adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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17
plunged
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v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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18
juggled
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v.歪曲( juggle的过去式和过去分词 );耍弄;有效地组织;尽力同时应付(两个或两个以上的重要工作或活动) | |
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19
ashore
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adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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20
lodged
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v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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21
filibusters
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n.掠夺兵( filibuster的名词复数 );暴兵;(用冗长的发言)阻挠议事的议员;会议妨碍行为v.阻碍或延宕国会或其他立法机构通过提案( filibuster的第三人称单数 );掠夺 | |
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