They were full enough of the subject at the time, and,
remembering this, he thought to strengthen his story by--"
Katherine interrupted with great scorn.
"By adding verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing
narrative."
"Quite so, Kate; exactly what I was going to say myself. But to come
back to the project itself. Granting the existence of the rock,
granting the truth of Johnson's story, granting everything, granting
even that the young men are imprisoned there, of which we have not the
slightest proof, we could no more succeed in capturing that place from
a frail pleasure yacht--"
"It's built like a cruiser," said Katherine.
"Even if it were built like a battleship we would have no chance
whatever. Why, that rock might defy a regular fleet. Our venture would
simply be a marine Jameson Raid which would set the whole world
laughing when people came to hear of it."
"Johnson said he could take it with half a dozen men."
"No, Kate," corrected Dorothy, "he said the very reverse; that two or
three determined men on the rock with repeating rifles could defeat a
host. It was I who suggested that we should throw a shell, and then
rush the entrance in the confusion."
Captain Kempt threw up his hands in a gesture of despair.
"Great heavens, Dorothy Amhurst, whom I have always regarded as the
mildest, sweetest and most charming of girls; to hear you calmly
propose to throw a shell among a lot of innocent men defending their
own territory against a perfectly unauthorized invasion! Throw a
shell, say you, as if you were talking of tossing a copper to a
beggar! Oh, Lord, I'm growing old.
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