"Hah!" cried Jarette, "whoever it was you lads chased. I know: it was
that monkey of a boy."
Bob Hampton uttered a low chuckle.
"Like enough," he said.
"And you helped him."
"Oh, very well, then, have it your own way if you like; I helped him,--
but how I could ha' done it, I don't know, cap'n, nor them two neither.
I don't care. But look here, I'm down tired, and it's time some one
else took his trick at the wheel. I want a sleep."
"If you play false to me, Bob Hampton," came in tones which made me
shiver, "you'll have a sleep that will last you for always. Do you
hear?--toujours!"
"Two jours, that's two days, arn't it, skipper?"
"No," hissed the man fiercely; "for ever. Here, Brown, bring an axe and
a lantern. Stand it there."
We heard steps overhead, and a light gleamed down from the lantern
placed upon the stern-rails.
"Now," said Jarette, "be always ready to bring that axe down upon the
head of any man who tries to climb up from the cabin."
"Ay, ay," came in a low growl; and just then I became conscious of the
face just over me, and it was lit from the outside; while farther back I
could dimly make out other faces which were shadowy, and did not appear
to be connected with bodies.
I knew directly after that it was not from the lantern placed on the
stern-rail, but from the pale grey glare in the east, for I had reached
my shelter none too soon. It was the beginning of another day.