kery
Beacon_ understand that he ought to turn back, she would be perfectly
willing to be rowed over to his vessel.

"I don't think it will be necessary to put a lady into a boat on such a
sea as this," said Burke. "But when he hears what Shirley has to tell
him, that Captain will most likely be glad enough to turn back."

Captain Burke was afraid to trust any of his clerical crew to row a
ship's boat on such a heavy sea, and although he would be perfectly
willing to go himself as one of the oarsmen, he would not leave the
yacht so long as Mrs. Cliff was on board; but Mr. Burdette, the
sailing-master, and the assistant engineer volunteered as crew of the
boat, while Shirley himself pulled an oar.

When the boat reached the _Dunkery Beacon_, Shirley was soon on board,
while the three men in the boat, holding to a line which had been thrown
them, kept their little craft from bumping against the side of the big
steamer by pushing her off with their oars. On board the _Summer
Shelter_ everybody stood and gazed over the rail, staring at the other
steamer as if they could hear with their eyes what was being said on
board of her. After waiting about twenty minutes, a note was passed down
to the men in the boat, who pushed off and rowed back with it to the
_Summer Shelter_.

The note, which Captain Burke opened and read as soon as he could lay
hold of it, ran as follows:

"TO CAPTAIN BURKE OF THE 'SUMMER SHELTER':

"It's my opinion that you're trying to play a beastly trick on me!
It isn't like my owners to send a message to me off the coast of
South America. If they wanted to send me a message, it would have
been waiting for me at Kingston. I don't know what sort of a trick
you are trying to play on me, but you can't do it. I know my
duties, and I'm going to keep on to my port. And what's more, I'm
not going to send back the man you sent aboard of me. I'll take him
with me to Rio Janeiro, and hand him over to the authorities.
They'll know what to do with him, but I don't intend to send him
back to report to you whatever he was sent aboard my vessel to find
out.

"I don't know how you came to think I had treasure on board, but
it's none of your business anyway. You must think I'm a fool to
turn back to Kingston because you tell me to. Anybody can write a
telegram. So I'm going to get under way, and you can steam back to
Kingston, or whe