"That is right. Now here is my bag, and a couple of black Moorish blankets. I will bring Mr. Parrot up, to say goodbye.
"Have you told your servant?"
"No, I said nothing to her about it. She would make such a terrible fuss, there would be no getting away from her. We must ask Mr. Parrot to tell her, after the vessel has set sail."
Mr. Parrot pronounced the disguise excellent, and said that he should not have the slightest suspicion that she was anything but what she seemed to be. Amy felt very shy, as she sallied out with Bob; but she gained courage as she saw that no one noticed her.
When they arrived at the brig, the cattle were nearly all on board. Bob led the way across the gangway, and went up on to the fo'castle. There he laid one of the blankets down against a stanchion; wrapped Amy in the other, so that her face was almost hidden; and told her to sit down and close her eyes, as if weak or asleep. Then he took up his post beside her.
In a quarter of an hour the last bullock was on board. The gangway was at once hauled in, the hawsers thrown off, and the sails let drop and, in another minute, the vessel was gliding away from the wharf. The wind was nearly due west, and the sheets were hauled in as she was headed across the Straits. It was half an hour before the sailors' work was all done. Several of them came up on to the fo'castle and began twisting cigarettes, and one at once entered into conversation with Bob.
"Is the boy ill?" he said.
"Yes, he has been ill, but is better now. It would have been better if he could have stopped a few days longer, but he was pining to get home. He won't have far to go when we get to Algeciras and, no doubt, I shall be able to get him a lift in some cart that will be bringing provisions to the camp."
The talk at once turned on the siege, the sailors expressing their certainty that the Rock would soon be taken. Bob had moved away from Amy, as if to allow her to sleep, undisturbed by the conversation.
"There is a brig running down the Straits, at a good speed," one of the sailors said, when they were half way across. "It is a nice breeze for her."