Only land me safe out of Aureataland with the signorina by my side, and I asked nothing more of fortune! Let the dead bury their dead, and the bank look after its dollars! Thus musing, I came to the boat-house where my launch lay.

She was a tidy little boat, and had the advantage of being workable by one man without any difficulty.

All I had to arrange was how to embark in her unperceived.

I summoned the boatman in charge, and questioned him closely about the probable state of the weather.

He confidently assured me it would be fine but dark.
"Very well," said I, "I shall go fishing; start overnight, and have a shy at them at sunrise." The man was rather astonished at my unwonted energy, but of course made no objection.
"What time shall you start, sir ?" he asked.
"I want her ready by two," said I.
"Do you want me to go with you, sir ?" I pretended to consider, and then told him, to his obvious relief, that I could dispense with his services.
"Leave her at the end of your jetty," I said, "ready for me.