"As I ware a-sayin' afore ye put in your oar, when I hears that ye both
had told the truth o' the matter o' the fight, it appeared to me that
them fellers couldn't be aboard that wrack. I told the old man so, but he
ware fer standin' along after them anyways. Then I ware clean decided
that the wrack had done fer them."
"Wasn't there a sign of them aboard?" I asked again.
"There's such a thing as bein' inquisitive," said Trunnell, looking at me
with his keen little eyes from under their shaggy brows. "Them men ain't
on that wrack--an' I told the skipper so, see?"
He pulled out his sheath-knife, went to the door of the cabin, and flung
it clear of the ship's side. Then he came back.
"There's some such thing as justice on ships, when the fellers go too
far; but discipline is discipline. The sooner ye get that through yer
head, the better. As fer them men with Andrews, they had give up any
right to live afore I got there. I told the old man that the chances were
agin their bein' found there. I comes back and reports that they ain't
there. That's all. Where they is I don't much keer. They is plenty o'
sharrucks in this here ocean, and some parts o' them is most likely
helpin' them. The rest is mostly in hell, I reckon, but as I says afore,
that is a matter o' mostly guesswork."
A dim idea of the horror he had gone through came upon me.
"Good God, Trunnell," I said, "did you do it alone?"
"Well, there ware only one strong one in the lot--but look here, young
man, if ye don't turn in pretty soon, ye'll be in trouble agin."
He poured himself out another drink, and put the bottle in the pantry.
Then he went on deck, and I turned in to think over the spectacle that
must have occurred aboard the blackened derelict. I could see Andrews's
hope and the third mate's joy at being rescued. I could even picture
them undergoing the wild joy I had just felt myself, when we had sighted
the _Pirate_. Then came that nameless something. Had the men seen it? A
rescuer coming aboard with a bloody knife in his belt, and the ship
standing away again on her course for the States on the other side of
the world!
There would be no explanations, and the blackened wreck, half sunken in
the swell, would tell no tales. Trunnell was really a strange character.
"Discipline is discipline," I seemed to hear him saying all my watch
below. His step sounded above my head as he walked fore and aft, during
his watch; and during the periods of fitful slumber I enjoyed before
eight bells struck, I fancied him a great giant whose feet struck with
a thunderous sound at every stride. I was almost startled when his
great bushy head was thrust into my room door, and he announced loudly
that it was the mid-watch, and that I would need a stout jacket to ward
off the cold.