"Avast, there!" said the sailor.
"I tell you, I never saw him look at me with such eyes before," insisted Bob.
"I reckon you would look at a man with crazy eyes too if you were in his place. As to how he came here, that's your uncle's doings. He wanted your father's money, and not having the courage to put him out of the way himself, he hired the captain and his first mate to do the work for him. But mind you, they didn't steal him out of his house at dead of night, as they do with every man that is shanghaied."
"How did they work it, then?"
"They found him in a small boat, ten miles out at sea, and took him aboard. He was luny then; at least, the captain said so. He said he was Cap'n Nellis, that he used to own this vessel, and wanted to get up and command her, and so the cap'n shut him up. That's the whole story in a few words, and I couldn't make it any plainer if I should take an hour."
"Then it seems that Barlow did not have a hand in kidnapping him? The captain found him at sea in a storm and took him aboard, and he wanted to command the vessel."
"Yes, sir. That's just the way the thing stands."
"Then Barlow is innocent, and that's what he meant when he said that he had some things in his head that he wouldn't tell to anybody. And in order that you may know how things worked at home, I will tell you that they are going just as my uncle hoped they would. He's got my father's property and has literally turned me away from home. He says my father willed it to him. But who are these friends you spoke of, and how are you going to manage to have them left on board the ship this afternoon?"
"Well, it took some thinking, that's a fact," replied the sailor, who did not much like the idea of Bob believing that his father was crazy. "First, there's the second mate, you know. He's a friend, and he'll be left in charge this afternoon. The only way I could manage to stay aboard was to sprain my wrist so that I couldn't pull an oar, and I had to be put on light duty. All gammon, you know, but I didn't know what else to do. Then there's our doctor. Of course he'll be aboard, for he will be getting supper. The others are Bret and Jackson. As they belong to the long-boat's crew, it was a safe thing to bet that they would be ashore when we wanted them aboard, so what did they do this morning but get up a sham fight and draw knives on each other. Of course they are in double-irons in the forecastle, and they'll stay there till we want them."
"Fore-top there!" shouted the captain. "It does not take two of you to splice a rope, does it? Lay down, boy."