“No,” he growled out in answer to my request that we might have some soap and water; “we no wash ourself, why you do him?” Then he slouched off whistling.
“No soap and no baccy!” said Ned plaintively, as soon as the fellow was out of hearing. “’Tis hard upon a chap, and no mistake.”
At Mr. Triggs’s suggestion, we exercised our arms gently, so as to get the stiffness out of them; and the good effect it had was wonderful. I am afraid my coxswain found it rather a painful operation, but he made no complaint.
“I’d like to practise fisticuffs on some of these rascals’ heads,” observed Ned after we had finished. “A lesson or two in boxing ’twould be, and nothing to pay for the larnin’.”
The deck on which we were confined was rather dark even in broad daylight, being illuminated only by the rays of light which came down the small adjacent hatchway, and by three or four remarkably dirty scuttles in the ship’s side. Amidships, I noticed that there were a good many casks and cases securely fastened to stanchions by stout rope; but what they contained I had no means of ascertaining. Close to my left hand was a row of bulkheads, and these stretched athwartships right across the deck, and had a door in the middle, which I fancied opened into the crew’s sleeping-quarters.
The little craft was evidently going through the water at a slashing pace. She was almost on an even keel, but we could plainly hear the water rushing and gurgling past under her counter. The gunner gave it as his opinion that she was running before the wind at eight or nine knots an hour. Silence seemed to prevail fore and aft, and we could not even hear the flapping of canvas, the cheeping of spars, or the rattle of a rope through a block.
Once I heard the melancholy bay of a bloodhound, and could not help thinking that it was a sound of evil omen.
The morning wore on, and we saw nothing of the chief. Every half-hour or so the mule-driver crept down the hatchway ladder to see that we were safe. He had pistols stuck ostentatiously into his belt upon these occasions, but always resolutely and sullenly refused to answer any questions we addressed to him, so at last we gave it up as a hopeless job.
It was really a great relief to us that the chief did not put in an appearance, for we felt strongly that no appeal for mercy, or demand for release, would have the slightest effect upon him; nor was he likely to proffer any explanation as to his reasons for kidnapping us. Again, we none of us wished to renew our acquaintance with his ferocious-looking bloodhound, nor to be introduced to the latter’s compatriot, which doubtless was also on board.
The morning passed away wearily. It was a great boon to be able to converse with one another, but we were a melancholy trio, as the reader may suppose, for at present we saw no chance of being able to free ourselves from a terribly irksome and even cruel captivity.