It was broad daylight ere they could be persuaded to
retire to rest, there was so much to tell and to hear.
Meanwhile, the meeting between Tollemache and Gray was full of racial
subtleties.
Tollemache, stepping forward to grasp Gray's hand, felt it was
incumbent on him to utter the first word.
"Had a pretty rotten time of it, I expect?" said he.
"Poisonous. And you?"
"Oh, fair. Beastly close squeak when you turned up."
Gray became more explicit when Courtenay met him in the chart-room,
where the table had to be cleared of debris before some glasses and a
couple of bottles of champagne could be staged.
"When those blackguards cast off from the ship," he said, "we scudded
away in a sort of ocean mill-race which threatened to upset us at any
moment. In fact, we gave up hope for a time, but, as the boat kept
afloat, Mr. Malcolm and I managed to stir up the Chileans, and we got
them to steady her with the oars. Some time before daybreak we ran
into smooth water, and made out land on the port bow. In a few minutes
we were ashore on a pebbly beach, in a place alive with seals.
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