"Hail the boats to come back."
The man did not answer for a moment, and Mr Reardon made an angry
gesture, but just then Tom Jecks, with his hands to his mouth, sent
forth a hoarse deep-toned roar.
Then there was a pause and a faintly-heard hail came from far away, the
zig-zagging movement of the boats ceased, and we saw one of them, that
is to say one of the lights, glide slowly toward the other, till one was
apparently only a short distance in front, and the other following.
"Let me know when the boats come alongside, Mr Reardon," said the
captain quietly.
"Yes, sir."
"And, by the way, I'll trouble you for my night-glass."
Mr Reardon gave a violent start.
"Your night-glass, sir?" he said.
"Yes, mine; you borrowed it."
The lieutenant handed the telescope without a word, and at another time
we should all have had to turn away to smother the desire to burst out
laughing, as we recalled the irritable remarks about the idiot to whom
the glass belonged, and the wretchedness of his eyesight, coupled with
an opinion that he ought to be dismissed the service.
But it was not a time for mirth: we were all too sad, and Barkins
contented himself with whispering--
"I say, I'm jolly glad it wasn't I who said that. Don't the skipper
take it coolly now? But he'll give old Dishy a talking-to for it when
he gets him alone."
Mr Reardon's face was not visible to us, but we could see his
movements, which were, so to speak, fidgety, for he began to walk up and
down hastily, and once or twice I heard him mutter--
"How could I be such a fool?"
A dead chill had settled down upon the ship, and I felt as I stood there
as if eight or nine years had suddenly dropped away from me--that I was
a little child again, and that I should like to creep below somewhere
out of sight, or sit down and cry and sob.
For it was such a horrible lesson to me of the nearness of death, and I
felt as if it was impossible for it all to be true--that it must be some
terrible dream.
And now for the first time it dawned upon me that I had a liking for the
strange, simple-hearted Chinaman, who had always shown himself to be
frank, honest, and brave in our service. He had been comic and
peculiar, but always devoted to me as a faithful servant; and now, just
too as I was joining in the mirth against him, instead of being
indignant on behalf of one who had been insulted by the men's horseplay,
he was as it were snatched from life to death.