"What did you say the Captain's name was?" It was immediately given.
"Then be good enough to tell Captain Costigan that he will find me
waiting for him beneath those trees yonder," she said, as she turned and
walked in the direction indicated.
"Pretty spoken woman that; devilish good looting, too; what can she want
with old Castigan?" remarked one of the party.
"Missed her passage in the last ship, perhaps, and wants to know if
there be any room in the 'Kaffir Chief,'" replied another of the
bystanders, "Go over at once to the 'Jolly Sailor'; I will be with you
as soon as I deliver the lady's message, and then we will drink her
health," said the old salt who had received the lady's bounty.
"Captain Costigan, of the 'Kaffir Chief,' I believe," said Mrs.
Fraudhurst as she advanced from under the trees, from whence she had
been watching his approach.
"The same at your service madam," was the reply of the polite seaman, as
he lifted his glazed hat and bowed to the person who addressed him.
"I have, unfortunately, lost my passage in the 'Eastern Monarch,' which
sailed some days since from London, and am anxious to return to the Cape
with as little delay as possible. I noticed in the newspaper that your
vessel was bound to that port,--am I too late, or have you room for
another?" The Captain eyed her for a moment, and apparently satisfied
with his scrutiny, replied:
"I have but few passengers, and there is a first-class berth vacant,
with excellent accommodation.
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