"
"I should thank you, Captain Battleton, for the compliment, if I were
not under suspicion of being some other person. May I ask when it will
be convenient for you to settle the question, for it is not pleasant for
me to feel that I am looked upon as even a possible impostor?"
"I shall not regard you as an impostor, Mr. Passford, for I mean to be
entirely impartial, and I shall not brand you even in thought until the
evidence warrants me in doing so," replied the commander, as he called
the surgeon who was just coming on deck. "How do you find your patient,
Dr. Connelly?"
"I find him--I thought I found him; but he appears to be on deck,"
replied the surgeon, as he fixed his gaze upon Christy, preluded by
a start, dramatic enough to prove that he was astonished to find his
patient was not in his room below. "I left him not five minutes ago, for
I have not yet been able to discover what ails him. He complained of a
severe headache and pains in his bones; but he has not a particle of
fever, or any symptom of anything that I can discover. I am glad to see
you on deck, Mr. Passford. How is your headache?"
"If I have had any headache, I have entirely recovered from it," replied
Christy, laughing heartily. "I came on board only an hour ago, doctor,
and I have had no headache, thank you.
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