"Look sharp," called Bones. "The brig's just ahead."
A riding-light gleamed high above us in the velvet gloom. I heard the faint slap-slap-slap of water against an anchored hull. Other lights appeared, the square pattern of stern windows, a great lanthorn hung in the waist. A gruff hail reached us.
"Boat ahoy!"
"Bones comin' aboard."
"Aye, aye, Bill."
As we rounded under her counter a couple of ropes rattled down to us, and I heard the creaking of tackle and hoist. We ground against the dripping black hull, and one of the oarsmen seized the rungs of a ladder which dribbled in the waves.
"Make fast the young 'un first," rasped Bones as he went up the wooden rungs monkey-fashion.
"Aye, aye, Bill," answered Silver, and I became conscious that the one-legged man and another were knotting a loose rope beneath my arm-pits. "All right, above there," called Silver presently.
And to me as the block began to whine:
"Watch out for your head, my master. Up you go! All the sensations as come to a poor, honest pirate as is hung in chains at Execution Dock."