The visit was a formal one; the white ensign on her taffrail was in itself sufficient to show her character, and that she must have come straight from England; and the questions asked were few and brief.
"We are ten days out," Frank said.

"We have touched at Tarifa, Ceuta, and Tangier, but that is all.

The crew are all in good health.

Here is the list of them if you wish to examine them." "As a matter of formality it is better that it should be done," the health officer said.
"I will order them to muster," Frank said, "and while they are doing so, will you come below and take a glass of wine?
"Can you tell me if a craft about this size, a schooner or brigantine, has put in here during the last fortnight?
I don't know whether she is still flying yacht colours, or has gone into trade, but at any rate you could see at once that she had been a yacht." "Certainly no such craft has put in here, Major Mallett.

Yours is the first yacht that has come round this season, and as I board every vessel that anchors here, I should certainly have noticed any trader that had formerly been a yacht.