"What does he want, Trunnell?"
"Want's us to stand by him, I reckon," the mate replied.
"Can we do it without danger in this seaway, hey?" demanded Thompson.
"Answer me that. How the devil can we do anything for a fellow in this
seaway, when we might be rammed by him and sink ourselves?"
"We'll stand by that ship as long as she's above water," answered
Trunnell, quietly.
Then came a sudden change upon the captain. He turned upon the mate
quickly, and his bright, glinting eyes seemed to grow to sharp points
on either side of his hooked nose, which worked and twitched under
the excitement. His hand went behind his back and he jerked forth a
long revolver.
"Who's captain of this here boat, Mr. Trunnell, me or you?" said he, in
his drawling voice.
"You," answered Trunnell, decisively.
"Do you presume to give any orders here what don't agree with mine?"
"No, sir," said Trunnell.
"Well, just let me hint to you, you bushy-headed little brute, that I
don't want any suggestions from my mates, see? You little snipe, you!
what d'ye mean, anyhow, by saying what we'll do?"
Several men standing on the poop to keep clear of the seas in the waist,
hitched their trousers a little, and felt for the sheath knives in their
belts. I noticed Jim, the young landsman, pass his hand behind him and
stand waiting. There was an ominous silence and watchfulness among the
crew which was not lost on the captain. He had inspired no respect in
their minds as a sailor, even though he had shown himself fearless. It
was evident that they were with Trunnell.
"I meant that we would stand by that ship as long as she floated," said
the little mate, looking straight into the pistol barrel, "and I expected
that it would be by your orders, sir."
Thompson was not a fool. He saw in an instant how the case was, and his
glinting eyes took in the whole outfit of men and mates at one glance. He
may not have wished to help the strangers, but he saw that not to do so
meant more trouble to himself than if he did.
"This time you expected just right, Trunnell. I mean to stand by those
people, and I order you to get ropes ready to hoist out the boat we have
on the house, there. What I don't want and won't have is orders suggested
by any one aboard here but me. I'm glad you didn't mean to do that, for
I'd hate to kill you. You can get the boat ready."
Then he put the revolver back into his pocket, and Trunnell went forward
along the shelter of the weather bulwarks and made ready the tackles for
hoisting the boat out.
By the aid of the powerful glass I made out a figure of a woman standing
upon the ship's poop. She appeared to be watching us intently. Soon a
little sailorly and seaman-like fellow named Ford, whose interest in the
strange ship was marked, came from the group near the mizzen and asked if
he should get the signal halyards ready. Thompson made no objection, and
we bent on the flags which told by the code that we would stand by them
until the sea went down enough to get out a small boat.
At seven bells the "doctor" managed to get some fire started in the
galley, and all hands had a drink of hot coffee. This was cheering, and
Trunnell soon had the watch hard at work getting out new canvas from the
lazaretto aft. The main deck was getting safer, and although she took the
sea heavily now and then, she was no longer like a half-tide rock in a
strong current.
Topsails were hoisted out from below and gantlines bent. By the time all
hands had eaten something and eight bells had struck, we were ready to
get up new topsails and start the pumps.
Luckily there was little water below. In spite of the tremendous
straining the ship had made no more than could be expected, and in a
little over an hour at the brakes we had the satisfaction of having the
pumps suck.
All that morning we worked aloft getting new gear up. The British ship
drew away on our weather beam, wallowing horribly in the seaway. The wind
died away gradually into a good stiff gale, and by noon we had a break or
two above us that let down the sunlight. This cheered all hands. A good
meal with extra coffee was served forward, and I sat down to the cabin
table with Chips and the steward, to eat ravenously of prime junk and
preserved potatoes.
"'Tis a quare time ye had ag'in last night, forrads, hey?" said Chips.
"It was interesting for a few minutes," I answered. "I hope you fixed
the fellow's irons all right. Keys seem to have strange ways aboard
this vessel."
"Well, ye needn't be afear'd av th' raskil takin' leave ag'in. Sure, an'
I riveted his irons this time, as will take a file an' no less to cut
through. I votes we get th' old man to put him aboard th' first ship what
comes a-heavin' down nigh enough, hey?"
"It would suit me all right," I answered.
"Jim and Long Tom an' Hans an' a whole lot av us have th' matter in
mind, an' we'll speak wid th' skipper afore long. There's a divil's mess
below in th' fore-peak, where a barrel has bruk loose that I'll have to
mix wid first. Be ye a-goin' in th' boat aboard th' stranger whin th'
sea goes down?"
"I suppose so," I said; "that lot generally falls to a second mate."
"Be sure, thin, ye have th' plug in all right an' th' oars sound, fer th'
sea will be heavy fer a bad craft, and ye mind th' irons last night."
"I'll just take a look at them before I start. Chips," I said. "Thank you
for keeping tabs on the skipper."
"It's no great matter," he answered; and then we fell to with a will
until the meal was finished.