together at random. The wheels made eleven revolutions a minute, and the steam-ship went at the rate of thirteen miles an hour.
At noon the officers dispensed with making an observation; they knew their situation by calculation, and land must be signalled before long.
While I was walking on deck after lunch, Captain Corsican came up. I saw, from the thoughtful expression on his face, that he had something to tell me.
"Fabian," said he, "has received Drake's seconds. I am to be his second, and he begs me to ask you if you would kindly be present on the occasion. He may rely on you?"
"Yes, Captain; so all hope of deferring or preventing this meeting has vanished?"
"All hope."
"But tell me, how did the quarrel arise?"
"A discussion about the play was a pretext for it, nothing else. The fact is if Fabian was not aware who Harry Drake was, it is quite evident he knew Fabian, and the name of Fabian is so odious to him that he would gladly slay the man to whom it belongs."
"Who are Drake's seconds?" I asked.
"One of them is that actor—"
"Doctor T———?"
"Just so; the other is a Yankee I do not know."
