Story 1--Chapter XXX.
After the Fight.
The silence on the deck now seemed ominous to those who were listening intently for some warning of the enemy coming down, but the long, weary hours passed without any fresh alarm, and they all stood in that pitchy darkness and stifling heat, waiting for the danger that did not come.
“I’m getting so anxious about my birds,” said Mr Wilson suddenly from one corner of the cabin. “How shall I get to feed them?”
No one spoke for a moment or two, and then Sam Oakum exclaimed:
“You won’t want no more birds, sir. You’re a-going to be kep’ in a cage yourself;” and the two sailors tittered to themselves, but no one else spoke.
“I say,” exclaimed Oakum, all at once, “what’s come o’ the stooard and old ’Pollo?”
“I’m here, Mr Oakum, sir,” said a weak voice, and then there was a low wailing noise.