Just at sundown the second boat returned with the coxswain and crew, and she was hoisted up.
“Humph!” said the captain to himself, as he heard the squeaking sound made by the falls, “I will not send for him to-night; I’ll have a few words with him in the morning. Let me see, I’ll send word to him by Strake. Bah! how absurd. The bo’sun has gone ashore to help putting up the tackle for hoisting the guns.”
In the course of the evening, when the stars were blazing overhead, and the rock was invisible in the soft, transparent darkness of the night, the captain was walking up and down, when he encountered the first lieutenant, and they compared notes about the beauty of the night, and how advantageous it was for the unhoused men ashore.
“By the way, Bracy,” said the captain, “have you reproved Mr Belton? because, if not, leave it to me.”
“Oh, certainly, sir; but of course I have not had a chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I supposed that he had only gone ashore for the day, and would come back with the last boat.”
“Well, hasn’t he?”
“No, sir; he has stopped ashore.”