In another minute the men had started, and the lads watched them flounder over the shingle and up a misty slope, until they faded into the dim background and the patter of their footsteps was lost in the growling of the seas. Then they sat down beside Donegal in the shelter of the boat, though the other man stood upright at her bows. There was a chilly wind, and now and then the uproar the seals made, rolled about them. It was also very lonely, and Niven shivered as he crawled closer beneath the boat and wished he was back in the snug hold of the schooner.
"How will they know where to find the water?" he asked at last.
Charley, the man who stood up, laughed. "That," he said, "is quite easy. You see, Stickine has been here before."
"But you don't always damage your water tank, and Jordan wouldn't let them kill the seals," said Appleby.
Donegal nodded. "'Tis as inquisitive as Mainsail Haul ye are," he said. "Now, Ned Jordan never took a dollar that didn't belong to him from any one, and he's carrying no score against the Americans just now."
"Still, you or Montreal told me they'd tried to stop him sealing," said Niven.
"Oh, yes," said Charley. "That's just what they did, but you've heard Donegal. Ned Jordan don't let his debts run on, and he don't like anybody else to owe him anything."
"But from his way of looking at it the Americans owed him a good deal," persisted Appleby.
Donegal laughed. "They don't now, and when Ned Jordan has got what was owing him he don't want any more," he said. "'Tis the man that's never contented who gets into throuble."
This was not very clear, but Appleby fancied he understood, because there was only one way in which Jordan could have paid himself. Appleby was, however, by no means sure that what Jordan had done was altogether warranted, but that was for him to decide, and the lad had already surmised that a man must relinquish his rights or enforce them by the means that came handiest in the misty seas. In the meanwhile, the skipper had been kind to him, and the excitement of the life they led appealed to him. Turning to Niven he laughed a little.