I'll
present you to him, and I know he'll do what he can for you."
Before he left the men, Desmond took Mr. Toley aside.
"Mr. Toley," he said, "my friend Mr. Merriman wants a mate for one of his
vessels, as I happen to know. You would be willing to sign on?"
"I would, sir. I'm a man of few words."
"Very well; come up to Mr. Merriman's house by the Rope Walk and we'll
see what he says."
That same day Mr. Merriman invited the American to dinner, and engaged
him, to Desmond's surprise, as first mate for the Hormuzzeer, with Bulger
as bo'sun.
"Don't look so blue," he said to Desmond when Mr. Toley had gone. "He
will, of course, take your place. The fact is, I've taken a fancy to you,
and I think you can do better than by serving as mate on a coasting
vessel. Look in at the daftarkhanah sometimes, and get Surendra Nath to
explain something of our business methods."
He said no more at that time, and Desmond felt no little curiosity about
his host's intentions.
One evening Desmond was sitting alone on the veranda, reading, awaiting
Mr. Merriman's return from a meeting of the Council to which he had been
hastily summoned. Hearing a footstep, he looked up, and was surprised to
see, instead of Mr. Merriman, as he expected, Bulger hastening up with an
air of excitement.
"Mr. Burke, sir, what d'you think I've seed? I could hardly believe my
own eyes. I was walkin' down towards the fort when I seed two men goin'
into a big house. They was Englishmen, leastways white men, and I may be
wrong, but I bet my boots one on 'em was that there soft-speakin' villain
Diggle.
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