“Well, sir, not quite,” replied Hilary smiling; “we’ve got our guns, and the crew would give good account of—”
“Silence, sir! This is no laughing matter,” cried the lieutenant angrily. “It may seem very droll to you, but if I embody your conduct of the past night in a despatch your chance of promotion is gone for ever.”
Hilary stared, but he had common sense enough to say nothing, while the lieutenant took a turn up and down the deck, which would have been a very pleasant promenade for a cripple with one leg shorter than the other; but as the cutter was a good deal heeled over, it was so unpleasant for Lieutenant Lipscombe, already suffering from giddiness, the result of his wound, that he stopped short and stood holding on by a stay.
“Most extraordinary thing,” he said; “my head is always perfectly clear in the roughest seas, but ashore I turn as giddy as can be. But there; don’t stand staring about, Leigh. Take half-a-dozen men and make a bit of search up and down the coast. See if you can find any traces of the smuggling party. If you had had any thought in you such a thing might have been proposed at daybreak. It will be hours before we float.”
“Yes, sir, certainly,” exclaimed Leigh, rather excitedly, for he was delighted with the idea. “Shall I arm the men, sir?”
“Arm the men, sir! Oh, no: of course not. Let every man carry a swab, and a spoon stuck in his belt. Goodness me, Mr Leigh, where are your brains? You are going to track out a parcel of desperadoes, and you ask me if you shall take the men armed.”
“Very sorry, sir,” said Hilary. “I’ll try and do better. You see I am so sadly wanting in experience.”
The lieutenant looked at him sharply, but Hilary’s face was as calm and unruffled as the sea behind him, and not finding any chance for a reprimand, the lieutenant merely made a sign to him to go, walking forward himself to hurry on the carpenter, and then repassing Hilary and going below to his cabin.
“Skipper’s got his legs acrost this mornin’, sir,” said Billy Waters, touching his hat. “Hope you’ll take me with you, sir.”
“I should like to have you, Waters, and Tom Tully. By the way, how is he this morning? He got hurt.”