"Well, I'm hanged if he doesn't take it coolly enough!" muttered Frank, perplexed.
Frank felt an interest to know how Sport Harris was getting along. He walked forward and found the captain near the steps that led to the bridge.
In reply to Merry's inquiry, the captain said:
"Oh, don't worry about him. There are rats down there in the hold, but I guess he'll be able to fight them off. He'll have bread and water the rest of the voyage."
After that Merry could not help thinking of Harris all alone in the darkness of the hold, with swarms of rats around him, eating dry bread, washed down with water.
Frank felt that the youthful villain did not deserve any sympathy, but, despite himself, he could not help feeling a pang of pity for him.
When he expressed himself thus to his friends, however, they scoffed at him.
"Serves the dog right!" flashed Diamond. "He is getting just what he deserves, and I'm glad of it!"
"He will get what he deserves when we reach the other side," grunted Browning.
"No," said Merry; "he is an American, and he'll have to be taken back to the United States for punishment."