"Cruising in the Maud is then decidedly a thing of the past," said Scott, with a feeble attempt to laugh.
"Then, if I should find an opportunity to sell the Maud at Aden, you will not be disappointed?" asked the captain, point-blank, looking earnestly into the face of the young sailor.
"If we are not to use her as we did before"--
"That is utterly impracticable in the waters of the Indian Ocean; for the perils I have suggested, to say nothing of typhoons and hurricanes," interposed the commander.
"Then I shall be perfectly satisfied to have her go," answered Scott.
"In the first typhoon or hurricane, and I expect to see such, we might be obliged to cut her loose, and launch her into the boiling waters to save the ship; for I find that she is too great a load to carry on our promenade deck, and we have no other place for her. We have had no storm to test the matter; if we had, she might have gone before this time. I have already spoken to Uncle Moses and Mr. Woolridge about the matter, and they not only consent, but insist, that the Maud be sold."
"I have nothing more to say, Captain Ringgold," said Scott rather stiffly.
Then he told the young man about the terrors of the mothers, the grave fears of Mr. Woolridge, who was a yachtsman, and was so confident that the little steamer would have to be cast into the sea, that Scott was somewhat mollified. He had made his reputation as a sailor, a navigator, a brave fellow, on board of her, and to lose the Maud seemed like destroying the ark which had brought him out of the floods of evil, and made a man of him.
The wise commander had evidently saved him from a life of iniquity, and the little steamer had been an effective agency in his hands in doing the work. He was absolutely clear that it was not prudent for the young navigators to sail the Maud over the Indian Ocean, and his conscience would not permit it to be done. He was afraid his decision might have a bad effect upon the young man, that it might even turn him from the paths of rectitude in which he had trodden for many months; but he trusted to himself and the co-operation of the other three members of the "Big Four" to save him from any such disaster.
The barge and the first cutter were manned at the gangway, and the party went on shore, prepared by what the commander had said to them to understand what they were to see. Captain Ringgold was obliged to visit the Parsee merchants, while an army officer who had been presented to them showed them about the town. They found everything they could possibly desire at the shops (not stores on British territory). Louis procured the vehicles, and they all rode out to the fortifications, where they were greatly interested, especially in the water tanks, which have a capacity of nearly eight million gallons. The officer was exceedingly polite, not alone because the reputation of the wealth of the young millionaire had gone out before him, but because this is the rule with well-bred English people.