Mrs. Cromwell brought the roughly minced meat and soddened bread and placed a spoonful in the sufferer's mouth.
He swallowed it eagerly.
After he had taken some half-dozen spoonfuls he turned his head on the pillow and fell asleep.
"He will be all right now," whispered the captain. "But someone must stay with him while we ransack the ship."
A second door led forward, and, leaving the watchers, the rest of the party passed through it.
Forward was found a number of great casks, such as are used to receive the blubber cut from the whale.
"She is a whaler, evidently," exclaimed the captain.
In the forecastle there was nothing except some hammocks and a chest or two.
"We can get warmer clothing than what we possess, anyhow," remarked the captain. "Now, what's the best thing to do?"
"We can carry the man back in a hammock," suggested one. "I doubt it," replied the captain. "What I propose is that some of us stay the night with him, and we will return in the morning, by which time he will be much stronger."