"You can't ask me anything which I shall not freely grant.

And I speak within my brief from the National Council.

You have saved Ilsin this day, and the Council will thank you for it in due time." "Me, sir ?" he said, with a look of surprise on his face which seemed quite genuine.

"If you think that, I am well out of it.

I was afraid, when I woke, that you might court-martial me!" "Court-martial you! What for ?" I asked, surprised in my turn.
"For going to sleep on duty, sir! And the fact is, I was worn out in the attack on the Silent Tower last night, and when you had your interview with the pirate--all good pirates forgive me for the blasphemy! Amen!--and I knew that everything was going smoothly, I went into the wheel-house and took forty winks." He said all this without moving so much as an eyelid, from which I gathered that he wished absolute silence to be observed on my part.