“I don’t wonder,” he thought. “It means a splendid profit for them to take her and her living freight.”
It was terribly hot down in that cabin, and an intense longing came over the lad to get on deck in the fresh air. Then he looked longingly down into the clear sparkling water through which they were rushing, and thought of how delightful it would be to plunge down and swim.
“Right into the jaws of some shark,” he muttered, bitterly, and then, “Oh, Bob Howlett, I wish you were here to take your share of the worry.”
The heat and anxiety seemed too much for him, and despair made everything now look black; he could see no ray of light.
But nature is very kind, and she came to the sufferer’s help, for as he looked round sourly at those in the cabin, Mr Russell in his stupor-like slumber, and the rest breathing heavily in perfect repose, he muttered:
“Not one of them seems to care a bit. Even Tom Fillot and that black asleep, and at a time like this!”
It is a bad thing to set up as a judge without a plentiful stock of profundity. Mark scowled angrily at the sleepers, and turned away in disgust to gaze out of the cabin window at the flashing sea and try in vain to catch sight of some sail, that might bring help.
The next minute he, too, was sleeping heavily, for nature was building them all up again ready for the struggles yet to come.
A heavy bang as of a closing door made Mark Vandean start up and strike his head against a piece of wood—a blow which for the moment increased his confusion.
Where was he? What had happened?