He only turned round, and grunted some few ungracious words.
"I've brought you some news," said Joe, repeating his lesson; "there is a regular shine on deck."
Hunston turned quickly round at this.
"What's wrong?" he asked, anxiously. "You haven't been saying any thing, because I'm sure you were mistaken, as—"
"As Jack Tiller was."
"Yes."
And Hunston fondled the blackened eye, mentally cursing Tiller and his hard, horny fist.
"Not I," said Joe Basalt, "not I. There's a row aloft, I told you. Three men have been put into irons, and I have got into trouble as well."
"What for?"
"Nothing," answered Joe Basalt, with a surly imitation of anger. "That's just it, for nothing, and aren't they up in the stirrups neither?"