Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/349

 of mind into which they were thrown when, on returning to their hotel, they discovered the perfidy of Stumps. Fortunately, they had enough of money left to discharge the hotel bill, and redeem their property.

"You 're quite sure of the name of the vessel he sailed in?" asked Sam of the waiter who had so cleverly obtained and so cautiously retained his information as to the proceedings of Stumps.

"Quite sure, sir," replied the waiter. "The ship's name was Fairy Queen, bound for the port of London, and the thief—the gen'lem'n, I mean—shipped in the name of James Gibson."

Having received the "consideration" which he had anticipated, and had afterwards given up as lost, the waiter retired, and Sam, with his friends, went to inquire after the great cable with which they now felt themselves to be specially connected.

"Letta," said Eobin, as they went along, "you and I must part for a time."

"Oh! must we?" asked the child, with a distressed look.

"Yes, but only for a very short time, dear," returned Robin. "You know we cannot get you a berth on board the Great Eastern. They won't even take you as chief engineer or captain!"

"But why not as the captain's daughter—or his wife?" said Letta, who thoroughly understood and enjoyed a joke.