respectful tone.  "You're on deck early." 

"Hullo, Meggs! That you?" replied his lordship, mounting the steps
with youthful agility.  "It seems you're still earlier." 

"Knowing your lordship's anxiety, I decided to run in, so that we
could renew the search with the first glimmer of daylight," explained
the skipper.  "We're now barely under headway.  According to the smell,
we're as near those reefs as I care to venture in the dark." 

"Right-o! We'll lose no time," approved the young earl.  "D'you still
think to-day is apt to tell the tale, one way or the other?" 

"Aye, your lordship.  I may be mistaken; but, as I told you, reckoning
together all the probabilities, we should to-day cover the spot where
the _Impala_ must have been driven on the coral--that is, unless she
foundered in deep water." 

"But, man, you said that was not probable."