Morgan did not answer directly.
He was thinking.
"How about provisions, sir?" he asked at last.
"Well, we ought to have enough of every sort to last for a year, and by that time, please Heaven, we shall be safe in Cape Town harbour.
"But," he added, "I was going to talk to you on this very subject."
"Well, sir."
"Well, mate, I think it would be as well to take an inventory. Have a thorough overhaul, you know, and see what condition everything is in."
The motion was carried.
But it took them three days--if we can call them days--to complete the survey and restore everything, in a ship-shape condition, to its place again.
The stores were all not only abundant but excellent, with the exception of some casks of greens that they put much store on. They would now have to depend upon a daily supply of lime-juice to prevent hands getting down with the scourge of these seas, namely, scurvy.