“She must see us now,” said Gunson, after another long interval, during which we all sat holding on by the gunwale.
“See us? Oh, she sees us plain enough.”
“Then why doesn’t she heave to?”
“Skipper’s too obstint. Perhaps he don’t think there’s any one aboard, for it’s misty to make anything out in the moonlight, even with a glass. P’r’aps he knows the boat again, and won’t take no heed because it’s me. But you wait a bit; we’re going through the water free now, eh, squire?”
“You’ll sink her directly,” said Esau, who had already grasped the fact that a vessel was always “she.”
“Not I. I say, you didn’t expect a ride like this t’night, did yew?”
“No,” said Esau, whose attention was all taken up with holding on to the side.
“No, not yew. Steady, my lass, steady,” he said softly, as the boat made a plunge or two. “Don’t kick. Say, youngster, any message for that there chap as you hit?”
“Yes; tell him I’ll set the police to work if ever I come back here.”
“Right. I’ll tell him. I know where to find him.”