Chapter 1
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S SERVICE"There was a mysterious affair last night, signore."
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Anything that interests us?"
"Yes, signore," replied the tall, thin Italian Consular-clerk,
speaking with a strong accent. "An English steam yacht ran aground
on the Meloria about ten miles out, and was discovered by a
fishing-boat who brought the news to harbor. The Admiral sent out
two torpedo-boats, which managed after a lot of difficulty to bring
in the yacht safely, but the Captain of the Port has a suspicion
that the crew were trying to make away with the vessel."
"To lose her, you mean?"
The faithful Francesco, whose English had mostly been acquired
from sea-faring men, and was not the choicest vocabulary, nodded,
and, true Tuscan that he was, placed his fin
