"Another sigh. This time I am not mistaken. It came from close to and below me, so that the hold must be inhabited.
"I stoop down, put my ear close to the deck, and listen. Yes, the same sighs, the same gentle breathing, with something about it very sweet and plaintive. I must find out the key to the enigma!
"I look before me and behind me. I seek some opening, some hatchway which will lead from this part of the vessel into the hold. Not a hole of any kind. I see only, a few paces distant, the large hatchway, 18 feet square, opening into the main hold, but the hatches, over which huge tarpaulins are spread, are down, and an entrance by that way is impossible.
"And yet, that there are living souls in that cavern beneath my feet is beyond a doubt. How on earth do they breathe? By the port-holes in the sides of the ship, of course, and I never noticed them when I came on board.
"Now for it. Let me examine the outside of the steamer. It is an exercise worthy of the leading spirit of a Gymnastic Society. Nobody sees me. All the sailors, the Captain included, are either snoozing or sound asleep; the engineers and stokers, half-suffocated in their oven, are not thinking of me, and my friends are watching the sunset. Besides, the screen hung up to hide our al fresco bath-room, will hide my movements too.
"In two bounds I was over the netting—I seized hold of a rope, swung myself under the bowsprit, and cast a rapid glance over the sides of the ship. I was right. Two small port-holes were open on each side of me, and from them had escaped the sighs which had reached my ears.
"With my hands I clung to the gunwale of the ship, crept round to the right towards the nearest port-hole, let go of the gunwale in order to grasp a rope which I had taken care to fasten round the capstan, let myself down about a yard, and put my head into the open port-hole.
"Ah! my dear fellow, if you could only have seen the sight that greeted my inquisitive eyes——."
CHAPTER XX.
"At first, it is true, I did not see much. My head shut out the day-light, and kept everything in shadow. But, after a moment, my eyes became accustomed to the gloom; through the intervals between the port-hole and my head came the rays of light, and I saw—what? Can you guess? Do you give it up? Of course you do, for who could have supposed——?