Left to himself Lance sauntered aft, glanced first at the binnacle, then
at the sails, and finally essayed a conversation with the helmsman. The
man proved at first to be exceedingly surly, suspicious, and taciturn,
but Lance Evelin was a man of consummate tact, and his manner was at
once so refined and so genial that there were very few who could for any
length of time withstand its fascinating influence. In less than half
an hour he had so won upon the man, who was by no means all bad, that
everything approaching to reserve had completely vanished, and when
Johnson came on deck after working out his sights he found the strangely
assorted pair conversing as freely together as though they had been old
shipmates. Lance was very careful to confine his conversation to
generalities, and religiously abstained from asking any questions
whatever; he quite realised that the party to which he belonged were in
a position of great difficulty and danger, their escape from which, if
indeed they should ever escape at all, would certainly be a work of
time, demanding the utmost caution and patience; and his first
endeavour, therefore, was to create a favourable impression rather than
to risk suspicion by a too early attempt to acquire information. When
Johnson saw the two in conversation he at once edged his way aft with
the evident intention of ascertaining what they were talking about; but
although Lance at once noted the movement and made a mental memorandum
to the effect that the pirate skipper was clearly a man of suspicious
temperament, he gave no outward sign of having observed any such thing,
but simply continued the conversation as unrestrainedly as though
Johnson had not been there.
Lance remained on deck until dinner-time, which was 1 p.m. on board the
_Albatross_, when he rejoined his friends below.
"Well," said he, as he seated himself at the rough deal table which had
been knocked together for their accommodation, "I have spent a very
pleasant, and, I hope, a very profitable morning on deck."
"Have you?" remarked Captain Staunton, "I am glad to hear that. We were
beginning to wonder what had become of you. What have you been doing?"
"Merely ingratiating myself with the skipper and the man whose trick it
happened to be at the wheel," answered Lance. "And I flatter myself
that, for a first attempt, I have managed pretty well. I have been
obliged to blow my own trumpet a little, it is true; but by a judicious
performance upon that instrument I have succeeded in showing our friend
Johnson very clearly that it is in our power to be of the greatest
possible service to him, and I have secured an order to build a new ship
for him, and to fortify the harbour in which she is to be built."
"To build a new ship for him!" exclaimed Captain Staunton.
"To fortify his harbour!" ejaculated Rex and Brook together.
"Precisely that, gentlemen," continued Lance. "I happened accidentally
to touch upon rather a sore point with him by disparaging the speed of
the brig, which he evidently wished to persuade himself was almost
matchless; then I gently insinuated to him that he would be very
awkwardly situated if he happened to find himself in the presence of a
frigate in heavy weather; and finally I mentioned to him in a casual way
the fact that I had designed and built a yacht of my own which could
sail round his brig in any weather, and also that I happened to be by
profession a military engineer. The results of which are as I have
already stated. There is one other result, by the bye, I have secured
the release of our friend Robert, and also the carpenter. I daresay
they will be allowed to join us some time to-day."
"Well," remarked Captain Staunton, "that is an advantage certainly;
every man we can secure makes us so much the stronger, and perhaps, if
we could get one or two more, something might be done in the second
night-watch. We might possibly be able to--"
"Take the brig?" interrupted Lance with a laugh. "Not to be thought of
for a single moment, my dear sir. Our friend Johnson is far too
suspicious a man, and has too much at stake to give us any such
opportunity, if watchfulness on his part can prevent it. Why, he has
already anticipated the possibility of such an attempt on our part, and
was good enough to caution me that we should always find him ready."
"Um!" ejaculated the skipper, meditatively, "that is bad news. We have
evidently a difficult man to deal with. I have heard it said, more than
once, that the man who can circumvent a Yankee can circumvent the Father
of Mischief himself. But about this ship-building and fortification
business, do I understand that you regard Johnson's plans in that
respect as favourable to us? Because, if so, I should be very glad if
you would explain; I must admit that at present I can scarcely see how
we are likely to derive any advantage from it."
"Well," remarked Lance, "you must understand that at present my plans
are of the crudest description, they will require a great deal of
maturing before they can be put into successful operation, and in this I
anticipate that you will all be able to afford me the greatest
assistance. Roughly, however, my idea is this. We must choose, if
possible, for the ship-building-yard a spot which is not only suitable
for the purpose, but which will also admit of being effectually defended
by the battery which is to be built. We must secure as assistants as
many as possible of our own men, and when the ship is built and launched
we must contrive somehow to seize and make our escape in her. This plan
will, I admit, involve many months' detention here, but it is the only
feasible way of escape which has, so far, presented itself to my mind;
and my conversation with Johnson this morning has convinced me that we
have nothing to hope for from him. He is glad to have us, and will
possibly be civil to us because of our ability to be of service to him,
but I can see that he is an unscrupulous rascal who will freely make
promises in order to secure our aid and co-operation, and unhesitatingly
break them the moment that his ends are served."
They were all busily engaged in the discussion of Lance's projects when
a hail was heard from aloft. They did not quite catch the words, but
the gruff voice of the brig's chief mate ordering the crew to make sail
caused them to surmise that a ship had just been sighted. The first
impulse of the males in the party was to rush on deck, but Captain
Staunton immediately resumed his seat again and requested the others to
do so likewise, pointing out that too eager a curiosity on their parts
respecting the movements of the brig would possibly only provoke
suspicion and resentment against them in the breasts of the pirates, and
that there would be ample opportunity later on for them to see how
matters stood. They accordingly resumed the discussion upon which they
had been engaged, but were shortly afterwards interrupted by the
appearance of Johnson's steward, who descended the hatchway-ladder
bearing a couple of boxes of cigars and a dozen sticks of excellent
tobacco "with the cap'ns compliments."
This afforded them an excellent opportunity for going on deck in a
thoroughly natural way; those who smoked accordingly cut up a quantity
of the tobacco, and, filling their pipes, adjourned to the deck in a
body for the purpose of enjoying their post-prandial smoke Johnson was
standing aft near the man at the wheel, "with one eye aloft and the
other in the binnacle." He looked fierce and excited; he took no notice
whatever of the party who had just made their appearance on deck, and
his features wore so forbidding an expression that it was at once patent
to everybody that the best plan just then would be to leave him entirely
alone.
The first thing which they noticed was that the brig had been kept away
off her former course, and was now running to leeward, with the wind on
her quarter. The canvas had been rapidly packed upon her, and she was
now slipping very fast through the water, with topgallant, topmast, and
lower studding-sails set to windward, and all the rest of her canvas,
fore and aft as well as square, tugging at her like cart-horses. This,
as it afterwards appeared, was her favourite point of sailing.
That a sail was in sight was perfectly evident, but nothing could be
seen of her from the deck, though the horizon was perfectly clear all
round; it was therefore rather difficult at first to ascertain her
whereabouts. But it did not long remain so, for in about five minutes
the mate came on deck with his sextant in his hand, and suspending the
instrument very carefully from his neck by a piece of stout marline, he
at once made his way up the main-rigging, and finally settled himself
comfortably in the cross-trees, facing aft, and bringing the telescope
of the sextant at once to bear upon an object which seemed to lie about
a couple of points on the lee quarter. The craft in sight must
therefore be _astern_ of the brig, and the mate's movements clearly
indicated that she was in chase, and that he was very anxious to
ascertain which ship gained upon the other.
The instrument, apparently after being carefully adjusted, was removed
from the mate's eye and suspended from the cross-trees in such a manner
that it should not strike against the mast or any of the rigging with
the roll of the ship, and then the observer drew forth a pipe, which he
filled and proceeded to smoke with the greatest apparent calmness and
contentment.
The pipe was at length finished, and then the smoker, with the same
deliberation which had characterised his former movements, once more
applied the sextant to his eye.
"Well," shouted Johnson, "what news of the stranger aloft there?"
"Gaining on us, hand over fist," was the reply.
"That'll do then; you may as well come down," snarled the pirate
skipper. "Your staying perched up there, like an owl in an ivy bush,
won't help us any; come down and make yourself useful, d'ye hear?"
"Ay, ay," answered the mate, "I'm coming, boss." And he forthwith
proceeded to descend the rigging in a careless nonchalant manner which
evidently drove his superior almost to the verge of frenzy.
Half an hour passed, and then there appeared far away on the horizon, on
the brig's lee quarter, a tiny white speck, which steadily though
imperceptibly increased in size until the snowy royals of a large ship
stood fully revealed.
This was about half-past three in the afternoon, at which time the wind
showed signs of failing.
By half-past four o'clock the stranger had risen her topgallant-sails
above the horizon, and it could clearly be seen, even with the unaided
eye, that she had royal as well as topgallant studding-sails set, and
there could not be a shadow of doubt that she was after the brig.
The spirits of our friends rose to such a high pitch of exultation at
this agreeable sight that they found it difficult to conceal their
delight when Johnson, abandoning his post near the helmsman, joined
them.
"Well, strangers," he remarked with a grim smile, "there's a chance for
you yet, you see. That's one of them cursed frigates you was talking
about this morning, colonel, but she's a tarnation sight smarter'n I
gave any of 'em credit for being. I tell you, cap'n, if this had been
the forenoon-watch instead of the first dog-watch it would have been all
up with this brig. But now I don't feel quite so sorter anxious as I
did. I reckon that unless the breeze freshens, which it ain't going to
do, it will take that craft till midnight to get alongside of us; and if
she can do it then, why she's welcome to the brig and all aboard of her,
curse me if she ain't. See them clouds gathering, away there to the
nor'ard? That's a thunder-storm working up, but it won't break for some
hours yet, I calculate, and them clouds is going to do me a good turn
before that. I reckon you'll have to make up your minds to go to
Albatross Island yet, strangers."
And he dived below to his cabin, evidently in an easier state of mind
than he had enjoyed an hour before.
By six o'clock the frigate's topsails had risen more than half their
height above the horizon, and when Lance, Captain Staunton, and Bowles
returned to the deck after the evening meal, the waning light just
enabled them to see the stranger's lower yards fairly clear of the
water. Before they lost sight of her altogether half her courses had
risen into view.
The night closed down very dark, there being no moon, and the sky was
entirely overspread with heavy black murky-looking thunder-clouds which
completely hid the stars. The wind, too, had dropped to such an extent
that an occasional ominous flap was heard from the canvas aloft, though
the brig still slid through the water at the rate of about four knots in
the hour.
Johnson was in high spirits again. He sat aft near the taffrail,
attentively watching the frigate through his night-glass long after she
had disappeared from the naked eye; and when it at last became difficult
to make her out even with the aid of the glass, he would lay it down,
rub his eyes, take half a dozen turns along the deck, then pick up the
glass again and have another spell at it. Finally he turned to the
mate, who was standing near him, and tendering the glass, said--
"There, take a look, Ben, and tell me if you can pick her out."
The mate peered long and attentively through the telescope, moving it
very slowly about that part of the horizon where he knew the frigate to
be, but without success.
"It's no go, boss," he said, "my eyes are pretty good, but they're not
good enough to see through such darkness as this."
Johnson chuckled. "Do you think," said he, "it looks any lighter ahead?
Would our sails show against that cloud-bank in the wake of the fore-
mast?"
"Not they," answered the mate confidently. "Why, it's darker, if
anything, ahead than it is astern."
"That's so," agreed Johnson with another chuckle. "Now, what," he
continued, "what do you think was the last thing the skipper of that
frigate did before the darkness closed down?"
"Well," said the mate, "if he knew his business, I should say he would
take our bearings."
"And you may take your oath that's exactly what he _did_," returned
Johnson. "Now, take a look round and tell me what you think of the
weather."
"The weather?" repeated the mate; "why, a child almost could tell what
the weather's going to be. We're going to have thunder, which will
bring a northerly breeze along with it while it lasts."
"Capital!" exclaimed Johnson. "Do you think, now, that the captain of
that man-o'-war astern is of the same opinion as you and I are about the
weather?"
"He's certain to be if he's a seaman," was the reply.
"Now, once more," proceeded Johnson, "supposing you thought of giving
the frigate the slip, as we might very easily do this dark night, what
course would you steer?"
"I should steer to the nor'ard," answered the mate, "so as to be to
wind'ard when the change comes."
"I knew it," exclaimed Johnson delightedly; "I was dead certain of it.
Now, we're going to give that frigate the slip by steering to the
_south'ard_; because her skipper will argue as you do, and when he finds
he's lost the run of us, he'll haul up to the nor'ard directly. Now,
just pass the word for the carpenter to bring along that water-cask I
ordered him to rig up this afternoon."
The word was passed, and in a minute or two three men came aft bearing
what appeared to be a water-cask with a pole passed down through the
bung-hole, and right out through the other side, about six feet of the
pole projecting on each side of the cask. To one end of this pole was
lashed a short light batten, and to the other end the men now proceeded
to secure a small pig of iron ballast. This done, the whole was
launched overboard from the taffrail, the cask floating bung up, with
half the pole and the light batten standing perpendicularly above it
like a mast. To the upper end of this batten was lashed an old horn
lantern with a lighted candle in it, after which the whole apparatus was
suffered to go adrift.
"Now, in stunsails, and brace sharp up on the port tack," ordered
Johnson.
This was soon done; and the brig now feeling the full strength of what
little wind there was, seemed to slip along through the water quite as
fast as before.
Johnson looked away out over the weather quarter to where the beacon-
lantern glimmered in the intense darkness.
"There," said he; "that'll perhaps help to mislead 'em a bit. They'll
take it for our binnacle-light, and'll keep straight on till they run
over it. Then, finding we've played 'em a trick, they'll haul straight
up to the nor'ard, thinking we've gone that way too, and we shall soon
be out of sight of one another."
Johnson kept his gaze intently fixed upon the tiny light as long as it
remained visible to the naked eye, and when it could no longer be seen
in that fashion he deliberately set himself to watch it through his
night-glass. More than an hour had elapsed since the cask had been sent
adrift before he manifested any signs of emotion, but at length he began
to chuckle audibly--
"Now they're nearing it," he murmured, with his eye glued to the tube.
"I can see the craft clearly now; they've cast loose the guns and opened
the ports; I can see the light of the lanterns shining through 'em.
She's creeping up to it pretty fast; but I guess we've walked away from
it quite a considerable distance too. There! Now they've run aboard of
that tarnation old water-barrel; they know what 'tis by this time, and I
reckon the skipper of that frigate is ripping and tearing and cussing
and going on till the air smells of brimstone for a quarter of a mile
all round. Ah! just as I expected. They've hauled up to the nor'ard;
her stern's towards us, for I can see the lights shining out of her
cabin-windows; and now every minute 'll take us further apart. Waal,
I'm glad I thought of laying for 'em with that old lantern; it'll sorter
tell 'em that we're having a good laugh at 'em; won't it, colonel?"
turning to our friends and addressing Lance in high good-humour.
"Doubtless you have succeeded in greatly provoking them, if that was
your object," replied Lance; "but if I were in your place I don't think
I should feel quite easy in my mind yet. If that thunder-storm which
has been brewing for so long were to break, as it may do at any moment,
the flash of the lightning would be certain to reveal your whereabouts
to them."
"I reckon we'll have to take our chance of that," remarked Johnson in a
more sober tone; "but let it keep dark half an hour longer, and I don't
care how much it lightens after that. Ah, tarnation! look at that."
This last ejaculation was provoked by the sudden illumination of the
northern heavens by a brilliant flash of sheet lightning, which revealed
not only every detail of the vast bank of murky clouds which lay heaped
up, as it were, upon the horizon, but also distinctly showed the frigate
on its very verge, still holding steadily northward, her hull and sails
standing out sharply like a block of ebony against the faint bluish
gleam of the electric light.
Another flash soon followed, then another, and another, the flashes
following each other with increasing rapidity, to Johnson's manifest
discomfiture; but, though he was evidently unaware of it, the brig was
so far perfectly safe from discovery; for the lightning continued to
flash up only in the northern quarter, leaving the remainder of the
horizon veiled in impenetrable darkness; so that, though the frigate was
distinctly revealed to the brig, the brig was completely hidden from the
frigate.
The lightning, however, though it had not yet shown the brig's
whereabouts, had enabled those on board the frigate to ascertain that
she was not ahead of them, as they had supposed, for when the next flash
came the man-o'-war was seen nearly broadside-on to the brig, and
heading about south-west, her captain having evidently come to the
conclusion that the _Albatross_, after setting her lure, had doubled
back like a hare upon her former course.
Johnson waited until another flash came, revealing the frigate still
upon the same course, and then he gave orders for his vessel to be kept
away, steering this time to the southward and eastward, or about at
right angles to the course of the frigate. Ten minutes later the latter
was hull-down.
"_Now_ we're safe!" ejaculated the pirate skipper delightedly. "Clew up
and furl everything, lads, and be smart about it, for in another five
minutes we'll have the lightning flashing all round us; but under bare
poles I guess it'll take sharp eyes to pick us out."
"Waal, colonel," he remarked to Lance, shortly afterwards, "I reckon
that was a narrer squeak for us, that was. If I'd been fool enough to
go to the nor'ard, they'd have had us for sure. That's a right smart
frigate, that is; and I guess she's a Yankee. You Britishers don't
build such smart boats as that. After this I'm bound more'n ever to
have that schooner you promised to build for me, for I don't mind owning
up that I began to feel skeered a bit when I saw how we was bein'
catched up. Do you think, now, colonel, you could build a schooner that
would have walked away from that frigate?"
"Oh dear, yes!" answered Lance, "I am quite sure I could; only,
remember, I must not be interfered with in any way. I cannot have
people troubling me with suggestions, or, worse still, insisting upon my
grafting their ideas on to my own. The ship must be exclusively my own
design, and then I can promise you we will turn out a craft capable, if
need be, of running away from the fastest frigate that ever was
launched."
"All right, colonel; don't you trouble about that," was the reply.
"Only say what you want, and it shall be done; and if anybody tries to
interfere with you, just point 'em out to me, that's all."
"Very well," returned Lance. "Then I shall consider that a bargain; and
now I will wish you good-night, as I think there will be rain shortly,
and I've no particular fancy for a drenching unless it comes in the way
of duty."
The following morning dawned bright and fair, the thunder-storm of the
preceding night having broken and raged furiously for a couple of hours
soon after our friends left the deck, and then cleared completely away.
When Captain Staunton went on deck he found a fine breeze blowing once
more from the westward, and the brig dashing along at a slashing pace
under topgallant-sails, with her nose pointing to the northward. The
air was clear and transparent; not a cloud flecked the deep blue of the
sky overhead; and a man, who had shinned aloft at Johnson's orders as
far as the main truck, was just in the act of reporting that there was
nothing anywhere in sight. So that any lingering hopes which Captain
Staunton may have entertained as to the possibility of the frigate
rediscovering them were speedily dashed to the ground.
The fine weather lasted; and three days afterwards, about two o'clock in
the afternoon, the look-out aloft reported, "Land ho! right ahead!"
"What is it like?" hailed Johnson from his seat on the skylight.
"It's Look-out Peak, sir; I can make out the shape of it quite well."
"That's all right," returned Johnson. "Stay where you are, and let me
know if you see anything like a signal."
In a couple of hours more the land was distinctly visible from the deck,
the peak spoken of as "Look-out Peak" appearing first, and then the land
on each side of it, rising gradually above the ocean's brim until it lay
stretched along the horizon for a length of some half a dozen miles. As
they drew in towards the island, our friends (all of whom, excepting the
ladies, were on deck) half expected to be sent below in order that they
might not become acquainted with the navigation of the harbour-entrance;
but this idea did not appear to have presented itself to Johnson, who,
on the contrary, joined the group, and began chatting with them in what
was evidently meant to be understood as an affable manner.
When they had approached within a mile of the place, the pirate skipper
turned to Lance and asked him what he thought of the harbour, and
whether he believed he could make it tolerably safe with a dozen guns or
so.
"Harbour!" answered Lance, "I see no harbour,--no sign even of one on
that part of the coast which we are now approaching. I can distinguish
nothing but a rocky shore, against which the surf is breaking heavily
enough to dash to pieces the strongest ship that was ever built.
Perhaps the harbour lies somewhere beyond that low rocky point which
forms the western extremity of the island? But if so, why not steer
directly for it?"
"The entrance to the harbour is exactly in line with our jib-boom-end
just now," explained Johnson in high good-humour; "but I guess you would
never know it unless you was told; would you, colonel?"
"That indeed I should not," answered Lance; "and even now I scarcely
know how to believe you."
Lance might well say so, for the whole coast-line in front of them
presented an apparently unbroken face of rocky cliffs of various
heights, from about thirty to two hundred feet, backed by grassy slopes
thickly dotted with dense clumps of trees of various kinds, many of
which glowed with the most brilliant tints from the flowers with which
they were loaded. Immediately ahead, where Johnson had said the
entrance to the harbour lay, a great irregular mass of low jagged rocks
projected slightly beyond the general face-line of the cliffs, and
behind it was a gap which had the appearance of being caused by the
projecting mass of rock having at some remote period broken away and
slipped into the sea. The brig, however, continued to stand on boldly,
and when she had arrived within about three cables'-lengths of the
shore, it became apparent that the large mass of rock ahead, or rather
on the lee bow by this time, the brig having luffed a trifle, was
entirely detached from the island, leaving a narrow channel of water
between it and the cliffs behind it. But it was not until the brig had
actually borne away to enter this channel that the entrance to the
harbour revealed itself. Then indeed it was seen that the cliff behind,
instead of preserving an unbroken face, curved inwards in the form of a
cove, the eastern and western arms of which consisted of two projecting
reefs jutting out toward the mass of rock in front of them, which in its
turn now revealed its true shape, which was that of a crescent, the
horns of which overlapped the two projecting reefs forming the eastern
and western sides of the harbour-entrance, and acted as a perfect
natural breakwater, effectually protecting the harbour itself in all
weathers.
Winding her way through the short narrow channel between the rock and
the cliffs, the brig hauled sharply round the western point and shot
into the cove or harbour itself, which consisted of an irregularly-
shaped expanse of water some two hundred acres in extent. At the
entrance the rocks on both sides sloped steeply down into the deep blue
water; but further in they were fringed along their bases by a beautiful
white sandy beach which widened as it approached the bottom of the bay,
the land on each side sloping more gradually down to the water, and
finally spreading out, where the water ceased, into a broad and lovely
valley which stretched inland some three miles, rising gradually as it
receded until it became lost among a group of hills which formed the
background of the picture.
At anchor in the bay were three hulks, no doubt the three prizes spoken
of by Johnson as destined to be broken up for the building of the new
craft; and on the grassy plateau at the bottom of the bay and close to
the beach stood two large buildings and some half a dozen smaller ones,
all constructed of wood. Behind these, a plot of ground, some two acres
in extent, was fenced in to form a garden, and a very fruitful one it
proved too, if one might judge by the luxuriant growth apparent in its
various products. Corn of two or three kinds waved on the eastern
slopes, half a dozen head of cattle and perhaps a couple of dozen sheep
grazed on the opposite side of the valley; cocoa-nuts reared their tall
slender stems and waved their feathery branches by hundreds, and behind
them again as the ground sloped gently upward it became more and more
densely covered with palm, banana, and plantain groves thickly
interspersed with various trees, some of considerable size and dense
foliage, among which brilliant orchids and gaudy parasites of the gayest
hues entwined themselves to the very summits.
A light gig shot alongside the brig as her anchor was let go, and a tall
swarthy man with the unmistakable classic features of a Greek stepped on
board. He would have been a strikingly handsome man but for the
expression of cunning and cruelty which glittered in his keen black
eyes.
"Well, capitan," said he to Johnson as he joined the pirate skipper, "so
you have returned once more, and with a full hold, I hope. The people
began to think you were gone for good, you have been away so long time."
"Yes," returned Johnson, "back again, Alec, like a bad penny; and we've
not brought so _very_ much with us, either; but the little we have 'll
be useful, I daresay. The brig don't seem to sail so well as she used
to, and we fell in with over half a dozen fine craft that we couldn't
get near. They just walked away from us like we was at anchor. We've
come in now to give the old hooker an overhaul--she wants it badly
enough--and then I think I shall try my luck further to the east'ard,
away on t'other side of the Cape altogether. But if we haven't brought
a whole ship-load of plunder, I guess we've brought what's most as good.
We picked up boat-load of shipwrecked people, and among 'em there's
one--that tall soldier-looking chap over there on the larboard side of
the skylight--who says he can fortify the place for us, and build us out
of these old hulks a craft that 'll beat anything we're likely to meet,
'cepting perhaps steamers."
"_Says_!" ejaculated the Greek contemptuously.
"Ay, and he can do it too," remarked Johnson. "He's one of them English
soldiers who does all the battery-building and fortifying business, and
he has a yacht which he designed himself, and which sails so fast that
he didn't think the brig's sailing amounted to shucks. I tell you,
Alec, the way he talked about that yacht jest set me a longing, it did,
sure as you're there. Now, I'm going to leave 'em here with you when I
sail next time. They'll fortify the harbour so's it'll be safe if any
of them sneakin' men-o'-war comes pryin' about--and we was as near took
by one of 'em a few nights ago--as near as near--and they'll build us a
regular flyer of a schooner, on condition that they're properly treated;
so as long as the work's about I want you to act amiable to 'em, and
after we've got all the help out of 'em that we want, I don't care what
comes to 'em. They've got some women with 'em--worst luck--and they
seem mighty particular about 'em, so I hope you'll see that the gals
don't come to any harm. You see, Alec, my boy, we _must_ be civil to
'em if we want 'em to do their best for us; but after they've done their
work you can have your own way with the whole lot."
The Greek (whose name, by the way, was Alessandro Ralli) listened to his
chief in sullen silence, and when Johnson had finished speaking beckoned
him to follow him down into the cabin.
These worthies had been standing during this short conversation just at
the foot of the main-mast, and seemed to be either oblivious of or
indifferent to the fact that a seaman was just over their heads stowing
the driver, and near enough to hear every word that passed. The
individual referred to had been taking his time--a good deal of it too--
over his task, but no sooner were the skipper and the Greek fairly out
of sight down the companion than, with a few dexterous movements, he
rapidly passed the last turns of the lashing and slid down on deck.
It was our old friend Bob.