In a very few minutes the last of the defenders stepped into the boats and rowed off to the ship.
“All safe, Captain Martyn?” Miller’s voice asked as the boats came alongside.
“All safe, Mr. Miller.”
“Then we will give a hearty cheer, sir. They will know in a few minutes that you have gone, and it will make no difference. Now, lads, all together.”
And three hearty cheers broke from the English sailors, swelled by shouts and yells from the Greeks clustered on deck. As they stepped on to the deck Miller shook hands heartily with Martyn, Tarleton, and Horace.
“Thank Heaven you are all back safe again!” he said, “and, as I hear, without the loss of a single life. We have had an anxious time of it, as you may guess, since you have been away. I suppose we may as well get the boats up, sir?”
“Certainly. We sha’n’t want to go ashore again, Miller.” The boatswain’s whistle rang out, the falls were hooked on, and the boats run up to the davits.
“Don’t swing them in at present,” Martyn said. “We want all our room on deck. What have you done about the Greeks, Miller?”
“The cook had a big copper of soup ready, and they each had a basin as they came on board. We have given up the whole of the lower deck to the women and children. Our fellows and the men sleep on deck.”
“I thought that was how you would manage, Miller; indeed I don’t see any other way that it could be done.”