"The night is pleasanter out here on the river, captain," said Sir
Humphrey, as he sat with his brother on the deck in company with the
captain and the first mate.
"Yes, sir, one can breathe," said the gentleman addressed, "and I can
always breathe better out at sea than I can in a river. Well, have you
thought of anything else you want from the shore, for time's getting
on?"
"No; I have been quite prepared for days," replied Sir Humphrey. "What
about you, Brace?"
"Oh, I'm ready," was the reply: "as ready as Captain Banes."
"But I'm not, my lad," said the captain. "I can't sail without my
second officer. By the way, Dellow, did you give orders for the boat to
go ashore for Lynton at ten o'clock town time?"
"I?" said the first officer staring in the dim light cast by the
swinging lanthorn under which they sat talking. "No. Do you want one
sent?"
"Of course," said the captain tartly. "I told you to send one."
"I beg pardon, sir," replied the first officer. "When?"
"Tut, tut, tut!" cried the captain angrily, as he glanced at his watch.
"When I came aboard: and it's now half an hour later. How came you to
forget?"
"Well, really, sir--" began the first mate warmly. "Tut, tut, tut!
bless my heart!" cried the captain. "Really, Dellow, I beg your pardon.
It quite slipped my memory."
"Indeed, sir," said the first officer stiffly. "It did not slip mine."
"No. How absurd. I forgot all about Lynton. Send a boat ashore at
once to fetch him off to the brig. He must be waiting."
"No, sir, he's not waiting, or he would have hailed," said the first
officer, as he strolled off to give the orders, while the two
passengers, being tired after a very busy day, bade the captain "good
night," and went below.
"You won't sit up to see us start, then?" said the skipper.
"No, for there will be nothing particular to see," replied Sir Humphrey.
"I'll keep my admiration till we are well out at sea."
"And that will be at breakfast-time to-morrow morning, gentlemen. I
should not mind turning in for good myself. As it is, I'm just going
down to snatch a couple of hours before Dellow comes and rouses me up."
As Brace Leigh and his brother closed the door of their cabin the former
saw the captain in the act of lying down upon one of the lockers, and
as, about half an hour after, Brace lay awake listening to the strange
sounds of the night which came through the open window, he distinctly
heard the plash of oars, and soon afterwards the rubbing of a boat
against the brig's side, followed by sips on deck, then upon the stairs.
After that there was a rustling sound as of someone passing into a cabin
and closing the door, while after a little pacing about all was still on
deck, and then a cloud of darkness seemed to come suddenly over the
young man's brain, one which did not pass away for many hours, and not
even then till his brother took him by the shoulder and shook him.
"Come, Brace, lad, wake up. Going to sleep all day?"
"No, no," cried the young man, springing out of his berth. "Why, the
sun's up!"
"Yes, long enough ago. I've been sleeping as soundly as you, and the
cook has been to say that breakfast will soon be ready."
"How stupid! I meant to have been on deck at daybreak. Where are we--
out at sea?"
"No; as far as I can make out we are not above a mile or two below the
town, and at anchor."
"Why's that?" said Brace, who was dressing hurriedly.
"I don't know, unless the skipper is repenting of his bargain. I was
afraid he was too easy over everything."
"Oh, don't say that," cried Brace, in a disappointed tone.
The brothers were not long before they stepped on deck, to find all
hands looking anxious and strange of aspect, as they stood watching the
captain and first officer.
"Good morning, captain," said Sir Humphrey warmly. "Why, I thought we
were to be out at sea by now."
"It's a bad morning, gentlemen," said the captain, frowning, "and I
don't see how we are to start."
"What!" said Sir Humphrey, frowning and speaking angrily.
"Ah, I thought you'd take it that way, sir," said the skipper, scowling;
"but you're wrong. I'm not going back on what I said."
"Then what does this mean?"
"It means, sir, that I've lost Jem Lynton, my second mate."
"Lost him?" said Brace quickly. "Why, he stopped ashore to spend the
evening with somebody."
"That's right, squire."
"You mean he hasn't come back," said Brace contemptuously.
"No, I don't, sir," said the captain; "because he did come back."
"But you said you had lost him," cried Brace.
"That's right, sir: so I have," the captain answered. "He was to be
fetched back from the shore, as you heard last night."
"Yes, I heard you tell Mr Dellow to send the boat for him," said Brace.
"Well?"
"Boat was sent, sir, and the men say they brought him aboard. That's
right, isn't it, Dellow?" and the captain turned round to his first
officer.
"Quite," said the first mate, who looked very much disturbed, and kept
on wiping his dewy forehead with the back of his hand.
"Tell 'em," said the captain. "Speak out."
"Tom Jinks was with the boat, gen'lemen," said the first mate slowly;
"and he says Mr Lynton come down a bit rolly, as if he'd had too much
dinner. He'd got his collar turned up and his straw hat rammed down
over his eyes. Never said a single word, on'y grunted as he got into
the boat, and give another grunt as he got out and up the side. Then he
went below directly, and they've seen no more of him!"
"Tell 'em you didn't either," said the captain.
"No, I didn't neither," said the mate.
"To make it short, gentlemen," said the captain, "Dick Dellow here went
on deck about one to cast off and go downstream in the moonlight, and
sent the boy to rouse me up; and when I come on deck Dick says: `Jem
Lynton don't show his nose yet.' I didn't say anything then, for I was
too busy thinking, being a bit sour and gruff about Jem, and with having
to get up in the middle of the night; and then I was too busy over
getting off with a bit o' sail on just for steering. Then I felt better
and ready to excuse the poor chap, for I said, half-laughing like, to
Dick Dellow here: `Jem aren't used to going out to dinners. Let him
sleep it off. He'll have a bad headache in the morning, and then I'll
bully him. He won't want to go to any more dinners just before leaving
port, setting a bad example to the men.'"
"Then, to make it shorter still," said Brace, "the second mate did not
come back?"
"Didn't I tell you he did come back, sir?" said the mate huskily.
"Yes, but--" began Brace.
"You don't mean to say--" began Sir Humphrey.
"Yes, gentlemen, that's what I do mean to say," growled the captain.
"He came aboard right enough, and went below. Nobody saw him come up
again, and there's his bed all tumbled like. But he must have come up
again and fallen overboard, for he isn't here now; and as soon as we
found it out I give the order to drop anchor, and here we are."
"But how did you happen to find it out?" said Sir Humphrey.
"Tell him, Dick," said the captain.
The first mate shrugged his shoulders, and said gloomily:
"It was like this, gen'lemen. The skipper said one thing, but I says to
myself another. `Jem Lynton's no business to go off ashore the night
we're going to sail,' I says, `and I shan't go on doing his work and
leaving him sleeping below there like a pig.' So I waited till the
skipper was busy forward talking to the look-out, and then I slips down
below to get hold of poor old Jem by the hind leg and drop him on the
floor."
"Yes?" said Brace, for the mate stopped.
"Well, sir, I goes to the side of his berth, holds out my right hand--
nay, I won't swear it was my right hand, because it might have been my
left; but whichever it was, it stood out quite stiff, and me with it,
for there was no Jem Lynton there: only the blanket pulled out like, and
half of it on the floor."
"One moment," said Sir Humphrey. "The second mate slept in your cabin?"
"Yes, sir. I see what you mean. Did I see him? Yes, I did, fast
asleep and snoring, with his back to me."
"And when you went down again he was not there?"
"That's it, gentlemen," said the captain, breaking in; "and he's not
aboard now. There's only one way o' looking at it: the poor fellow must
have been took bad in the night, got up and gone on deck, and fell
overboard."
"Horrible!" exclaimed Brace.
"That's right, sir. Soon as Richard Dellow here found it out he come up
to me on deck and give me a horrid turn. `Poor Jem's drowned,' he says,
`for he aren't down below.'"
"But have you thoroughly searched the vessel?" cried Brace.
"Searched, squire?" replied the captain. "Where is there to search? He
wasn't here, and as soon as I could think a bit I let go the anchor, for
we must go back to Johnstown and give notice, so that an enquiry can be
made. Not that there's anything to enquire about, for it's all as plain
as a pikestaff. I don't know what I could be thinking about to let him
go, when he ought to have been aboard at his work; but I didn't want to
be hard. There, you know all we know, gen'lemen, and as soon as the
tide begins to make we must run back to port, for we can't do anything
more till that bit o' business is settled."
Sir Humphrey and his brother were silent, for there seemed to be nothing
to say in face of such a terrible catastrophe; and, as if moved by a
mutual desire to separate, while the brothers walked forward towards
where the crew were gathered together watching them, the captain and
mate went aft, the former shaking his head sadly, the latter looking
terribly depressed and out of heart.