"I wish Mr Raystoke was here, he and Gurr could go in the other boat.
I wonder where the lad can be!"
He went cautiously aft along the starboard side of his vessel, looking
hard at the frowning mass of darkness under which they lay, and thinking
how dangerous their position would have been had the wind blown from the
opposite quarter. But now they were in complete shelter, with the
little cutter rising and falling softly on the gentle swell and drifting
slowly with the tide, so that the _White Hawk's_ head was pointing
seaward.
He glanced over the side to see that the boats were in readiness, and
then went aft without a sound, till all at once he kicked against
something in the darkness beneath the larboard bulwark, to which he had
crossed, and nearly fell headlong.
"What's--here? Who was--Oh, it's those confounded boots. Hush, there;
silence!"
He said the last words hastily, for the crew made noise enough to
startle any one within range, and the sound: were being followed by the
hurried whisper of those who came running aft.
"Back to your places, every one," he said; and then the men drew off,
becoming invisible almost directly, for the darkness was now intense,
the lanthorns carefully hidden below, and once more all was still, and
the little office rested his glass on the bulwark and carefully swept
the sea.
"Stupid idiot!" he said to himself. "Lucky for him he isn't one of the
crew. No, not a sign of anything."
But knowing that seeing was limited enough, he put his hand to his ear
and stood leaning over the side, listening for a full ten minutes,
before, with an impatient ejaculation, he turned to speak to the
informer, who was not aft but probably forward among the men.
He walked forward.
"Where's that man?" he whispered to the first sailor he encountered,
who, like the rest, was eagerly watching seaward.
"Went aft, sir."
The little officer went aft, but the fisherman was not there, and he
passed back along the starboard side, going right forward among the
crew.
"Where is the fisherman?" he said.
"Went aft, sir," came from every one he encountered; and, feeling
annoyed at the trouble it gave him, Mr Brough went aft again, to notice
now that there was no man at the helm.
He walked forward again.
"Here!" he cried in an angry whisper, "who was at the helm?"
"I, your honour," said a voice.
"Then why are you here, sir?"
"That fisherman chap told me you said I was to go forward, sir, as he'd
take a spell now, ready for running her round the head into the bay."
"Where is that man?"
There was no reply, and more quickly than he had moved for months, the
lieutenant trotted aft, and looked over the stern for the fisherman's
boat.
It was gone.