Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/148

138 imagined the Saratoga to lie. A youth of about eighteen summers requested, in broken English, to be permitted the honour of piloting us, but as I felt confident of being able to find my way I declined his services.

For fully a quarter of an hour we plodded on and on until I began to wonder why the harbour did not heave in sight. It was a queer part of the town we found ourselves in; the houses were growing perceptibly meaner and the streets narrower. At last I felt bound to confess that I was out of my reckoning, and did not know where we were.

"What are we to do?" asked My Lord, looking at his watch. "It's twenty minutes to eleven, and I promised Mr. Baxter I would not be later than the hour."

"What an idiot I was not to take that guide!"

The words were hardly out of my mouth before that selfsame person appeared round the corner and came towards us. I hailed his coming with too much delight to notice the expression of malignant satisfaction on his face, and gave him the name of the vessel we desired to find. He appeared to understand exactly, and the next moment we were marching off under his guidance in an exactly contrary direction.

We must have walked for at least ten minutes without speaking a word. The streets were still small and ill-favoured, but I argued that as this was probably a short cut, such minor drawbacks were not worth considering.

From one small and dirty street we turned into another and broader one. By this time not a soul was to be seen, only a vagrant dog or two lying asleep in the road. In this portion of the town gas lamps seemed to be at a discount, consequently, despite the fact that it was almost full moon, more than half the streets lay in