"The Blanchita!" exclaimed Quartermaster Bangs, as he recognized the craft. "Captain Scott! I will inform the captain that you are alongside."

"Don't do anything of the kind, Bangs!" replied Scott. "Don't say a word, and don't make any noise, any of you. We want to drop in on the party without any notice."

The quartermaster was a very intelligent fellow, and he took in the situation at a glance. The "Big Four" stepped lightly on the platform, and Felix had taken pains to be the last one to mount the gangway. Scott led the way, and halted at the door of the music-room. He waited there till the hymn they were singing was finished, and then threw open the door, and marched in. He took off his cap, and bowed as gracefully as a dancing-master to the a.s.sembly.

Louis and Morris followed him, and imitated the example he had given them; but Felix had disappeared, and they did not know what had become of him. The musical party seemed to be so utterly confounded at the sudden and unexpected appearance of the hunters from Borneo that they seemed to be struck dumb with amazement.

"Louis, my son!" Mrs. Belgrave screamed as she rushed upon her boy, and folded him in her arms, kissing him as though he had come back to her from a tomb or a grave beneath the ocean.

"Morris!" cried Mrs. Woolridge, as she imitated the example of Mrs.

Belgrave.

"My brother!" exclaimed Miss Blanche, as she divided the neck and arms of the returned hunter with her mother.

"This is somewhat unexpected, Captain Scott," said Captain Ringgold, as he came forward, and took the hand of the captain of the Blanchita, who alone of the trio was not in the arms of a mother.

"I should say that it might be, Captain," replied Scott as coolly as though the meeting was nothing unusual.

"But how under the sun did you get here, Scott?" demanded the commander, scrutinizing the expression of the third officer,--which was his rank on board of the ship,--to ascertain if there were any signs of a calamity there.

"We came by water, Captain," answered the young officer, with a cheerful smile, which indicated anything but a disaster.

"Of course you did, inasmuch as there is no other way to get here. In what steamer did you come? for I believe there is no regular line from Sarawak to Bangkok," added Captain Ringgold.

"We came by the steamer Blanchita."

"I don't understand it at all," said the commander with a perplexed look on his face. "Do you mean that you made the voyage in the steam-yacht, Mr. Scott?" and there was a decided expression of incredulity on his face.

"That is exactly what I mean to a.s.sert; and if you have any doubts about the truth of what I say, I appeal to Louis and Morris to substantiate my a.s.sertion."

"If you really say so, I do not doubt the truth of what you declare. It looks like a foolhardy risk, but boys will be boys. I will not detain you now; for others wish to welcome you back, and I know they are all glad to see you, unexpected as your return is."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "BUT WHERE IS FELIX?" DEMANDED MRS. BLOSSOM.

_Page 161._]

As soon as his mother released him from the bondage of her loving arms, Louis hastened to Miss Blanche, and she grasped his hand as he approached. No loving expressions pa.s.sed between them, but what they might have said that could be cla.s.sed under this head was seen on their telltale faces.

"But where is Felix?" demanded Mrs. Blossom, who had been looking for him since Scott came into the room. "Where is he, Mr. Scott?"

"I am sorry to say that he was swallowed by a big boa-constrictor one hundred and sixty feet long, and twelve feet in circ.u.mference," replied the captain of the Blanchita, as seriously as though there had been such a monster snake in existence.

The poor lady was impervious to a joke; she screamed once, and then dropped in a sitting posture on a divan. Nearly all the rest of the party laughed heartily. At this point the head of Felix dropped down a foot through the skylight over the centre of the room. He had made his way to the upper deck, and stationed himself where he could see and hear all that pa.s.sed in the apartment.

"Good-mahrnin' to ye's all this foine avenin'!" he shouted. "Don't ye's make a row, Aunty. The schnake was a bit troubled wid indigestion of the brain, and, faix! I was too much for him! Loike the sodjers surrounded by the inimy, Oi cut me way out, and here Oi am."

"I don't believe you were swallowed by a snake," protested Mrs.

Blossom.

"Don't you believe that Jonah swallowed the whale, Aunty?" demanded Felix.

"Of course I believe that because it is in the Bible. If you had told me that you had swallowed the snake, I might have believed that," added the good lady.

At this point General Noury came forward, and grasped the hand of Scott, pa.s.sing from him to Louis and Morris, and then doing the same with Felix, who had dropped down from his perch at the skylight. As soon as Mrs. Blossom saw him on the floor, she rushed towards him with outspread arms; but the Milesian warded off the a.s.sault, and took her right hand.

"Don't hug me, Aunty, for the snake swallowed me clothes and all, and you may get some of the poison on you," said he.

For some time longer there was a general handshaking, and Louis was kissed by the Princess Zuleima.

CHAPTER XVIII

LOUIS'S DOUBLE-DINNER ARGUMENT

After the welcome of the Bornean hunters had spent itself in kissing and handshaking, the question came up as to why the "Big Four" had abandoned their explorations after one week in the island instead of three, the time arranged for them to remain there; and they had fixed the time themselves.

"I thought three weeks was a rather long time for you to be in the island," said Captain Ringgold after the question had been opened for discussion.

"We fixed the time before we knew anything about the island," replied Louis. "But I want to say, in order to counteract the impression which appears to prevail in this company, that our trip was not a failure; for we had a fine time, and enjoyed our trips on the rivers."

"If you had a good time, why did you cut it short by two-thirds of the period allotted to the excursions?" asked Uncle Moses.

"We went up the Sarawak, the Sadong, and the Simujan, up the last to the mountains, pa.s.sing through Lake Padang, and we have shot an orang-outang, and might have killed more of them, to say nothing of other game," replied Louis, whom Scott had requested to do the talking.

"We visited three Dyak villages, sailed the Blanchita through a forest, and killed a good many crocodiles."

"You seem to have had sport enough," added Uncle Moses. "Why did you give it up in the cream of the thing?"

"I believe you like a good dinner, Uncle Moses; such a dinner as you always have on board of the Guardian-Mother," continued Louis, who was evidently pluming himself to make a point.

"I do like a good dinner, and enjoy one very much," replied the worthy trustee of the young millionaire. "But I doubt if I am any more devoted to such a banquet as we get every day than my beloved friend, Brother Adipose Tissue, and all the rest of the voyagers all over the world."

"I plead guilty to the charge of Brother Avoirdupois; and I acknowledge myself to be a worshipper at the shrine of Mr. Melancthon Sage, and I invoke a blessing upon the head of Monsieur Odervie, the chief cook. Our life on the ocean wave is a constant promotive of the appet.i.te. If the proof of the pudding is not in the eating of the bag, it is in the eating of the dinners; and I think we pay an abundant tribute to the talent of Mr. Sage, the prince of stewards, in the quant.i.ty of the well-cooked food he causes to be placed before us."

"We get through dinner about seven o'clock. I see that the accomplished chief steward is standing at the door," continued Louis. "Now, Mr.

Sage, would it be possible and convenient for you to have another dinner on the table, say at eight o'clock, an hour after the first feast had been finished?"

"Quite possible, and even convenient; the only persons to complain of such an arrangement would be the cooks and stewards," replied Mr. Sage.

"Captain Ringgold, might I so far presume upon any influence I may have with you as the owner of the Guardian-Mother to request you to order a second dinner to be served at eight in the evening, beginning, say, with to-morrow evening?" asked the young millionaire, looking as serious as though he was about to preach a sermon, though the party were generally laughing.

"As I have always told you, I take my orders from the owner; and if you desire such a dinner, I shall certainly give Mr. Sage an order to that effect," replied the commander.

"But who is to eat the dinner after it is provided, an hour after the pa.s.sengers have gorged themselves at the table?" demanded Dr. Hawkes.

"Is this a conspiracy to make more work for the surgeon?"

"Not at all," protested Louis. "It is to give the gentlemen who question so closely an opportunity to have an abundance of a good thing."