He held a white handkerchief to his ear, and offered a calm, enigmatic smile to the two forlorn but victorious occupants of the dinghy.

Jules had been defeated for once in his life; or perhaps it would be more just to say that he had been out-manoeuvred.

Men like Jules are incapable of being defeated.

It was characteristic of his luck that now, in the very hour when he had been caught red-handed in a serious crime against society, he should be effecting a leisurely escape--an escape which left no clue behind.
The sea was utterly calm and blue in the morning sun.

The dinghy rocked itself lazily in the swell of the yacht's departure.