It was late in the afternoon before Captain S——­ got down to the docks.  His steamer was loaded and ready for sea.  At the quay, close to the stern of the vessel, Mrs. C——­, with her daughter, was seated in a drosky.  She explained that they had come to say good-bye, and to convey a message from Patrovish that he, Yaunie, and some officers were aboard Captain Farquarson’s vessel.  “He commissioned me to say that you were to slip out of the harbour quietly to avoid trouble, as he had reason to believe that there was something going on, and you might be stopped.  Meanwhile, they are doing some entertaining for your benefit, so I will not detain you longer.  Good-bye, and we hope to see you again soon.”

The captain made haste aboard, and gave instructions to cast off the moorings.  The Claverhouse glided quietly out of the harbour, and in less than an hour she was steaming fall speed towards the Bosphorus.  The two captains did not meet again for several months, and when they did, Farquarson gave a vivid account of the development and ultimate success of what he termed the plot to extricate S——­ from the possibility of being detained or heavily fined.

“I assure you,” said he, “they were on the scent.  They asked if I was the man who was on the gunboat when the English steamer ran over the mines.  I swore by all that was holy that I didn’t know what they were talking about.  Then Yaunie and Patrovish asked them in Russian to have some refreshment aboard my ship, and they kicked up a devil of a row when they found you had gone without saying good-bye.  Yaunie swore it was to cheat the pilotage, and Patrovish said he couldn’t have believed it of you.  I said you always were a bowdikite, and that you were putting on ‘side.’  The Russians were very jolly.  They had a thimbleful or two of whisky, which made them talk a lot.  We had a good laugh after they went away, and Patrovish said it was a good job you were gone, because they would have been sure to have caused trouble.  Yaunie wasn’t sure, but I was on C——­’s side, for, I said, why did they mention the gunboat to me, if they didn’t mean anything?”

“Whatever their intentions were,” rejoined Captain S——­, “the precautions you took to checkmate were successful, and I am much obliged for the trouble you took after you realized the danger.  I must always be grateful to you for that; and the next time you go out there, thank my two friends for their important share in it, and say to Patrovish that his own and his wife’s wish to see me soon back is much appreciated, but my present plans are such that I will not be able to visit Russia for a long time to come, and it may be I never shall again.”

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 1:  How came it to pass that the Russians were allowed to cross the Balkans?  How was it that they were allowed to take possession so easily of the Schipka Pass?  Did the personages who so soon afterwards disappeared mysteriously and were never heard of again yield up this stronghold to the possessors of a golden key?  Poor Turkey!]