CHAPTER VII

THE CAPTAIN'S DOUBTS The _Hermione's_ second cutter, with a sun-helmeted midshipman in charge, slowed down as she approached her parent ship. In her diminutive engine-room a bell clanged loudly. Froth bubbled under her transom as the engines were reversed. Losing way, she came to a standstill alongside the accommodation ladder. Her youthful skipper gave a searching glance aft, with the air of a man who has done his job smartly and expects credit for it. Stepping out of the stern-sheets of the steamboat, Sub-lie…