He nodded, and gave orders for the removal of the hatch; and down I went, this time unaccompanied. Legrand still lay on his back, staring vacantly, and the sailors were grouped about, a despondent company, in that dark and stuffy hole.
"Any improvement?" said I to one of them.
"Not much, sir," said he, with a glance towards the open hatchway, where, no doubt, one of the mutineers stood on guard.
"Does Mr. Legrand take any nourishment?" I asked.
"A bit, sir, but not too much. He doesn't seem to relish his food," the man answered.
"Does he talk?" I asked.
"He has spoken about a dozen sentences, sir, but there don't seem much sense in them."
"Ah, I feared as much," I said. I was certain that Holgate, for all his lordly air of unconcern, had taken steps to know what was forward in the hold.
I made another examination, and was the more convinced that there was nothing seriously the matter with Legrand. This time he frankly grinned in my face, as I laid him down. No doubt the sailors were in his secret, and primed for it.
"I daresay I shall have to operate," I said, and, bidding them farewell, I ascended to the deck.