"Why, you don't suppose that he intends to desert us!" cried Frank.
The mate shrugged his shoulders and pointed with his thumb toward the ship, as if to say that Frank could see what she was doing as well as he could, and might interpret her actions to suit himself.
"It can't be possible!" said Frank. "No man on earth could be guilty of an act of treachery like this."
"A captain who will allow his men to be abused until they jump overboard to put themselves out of his way, will do anything," returned Mr. Gale, quietly. "Hoist the sail, Lucas; you had better bail her out, Nelson. We must keep her afloat until she carries us two hundred miles."
"Is there any water, sir?" asked Barton.
"Yes, the keg is full, and we need a taste of it after our hard work; but we must touch it lightly, for there is no telling when we shall get any more. The Mangrove Islands are the nearest land, and, as I said, they are two hundred miles away. It is lucky that I know the course."
The sail having been hoisted, the men took a refreshing drink all around, and settled back on their seats to think over their situation. Frank could not yet believe that Captain Barclay had sent them out there alone, with no other object in view than to desert them. He kept telling himself that the ship must have raised another whale and gone in pursuit of it, and he watched her closely, expecting every moment to see her shorten sail and come-to to wait for them; but she kept on, with all her canvas spread, and very soon nothing but her royals were visible above the horizon. Frank was obliged to believe it now, and shuddered when he thought of what was yet to come. With a leaky boat under them, not a mouthful of anything to eat, and with only a very small supply of water to allay the raging thirst caused by their five hours' work under a broiling sun, their situation was one calculated to frighten anybody. But still it might have been worse, and in this thought Frank found a little consolation. The mate knew which way to steer to find land, and if they could only keep the boat afloat twenty-four hours they would be safe. But suppose the boat had been stove during the fight with the whale! Suppose he had cut it in two with his jaw, or smashed it in pieces with his flukes, as he had tried so hard to do, and left the crew struggling in the water: what then! Captain Barclay would have deserted them all the same, and they would have been left powerless. Surrounded by an army of hungry sharks (Frank now and then caught a momentary glimpse of a sharp fin cutting the water as one of these voracious monsters hurried toward the whale they had just left, being attracted no doubt by the blood he had spouted during his flurry), their sufferings would have been ended, and there would have been none left to tell the story of the captain's treachery.
"Come, come, boys! This will never do in the world," said Mr. Gale, suddenly breaking the silence that had reigned for the last half hour. "Wake up, there! What's the matter with you that you look so sober? If we were eight or nine hundred miles out at sea, we'd have something to worry over; but if the wind holds this way, we shall be all right by to-morrow at this time. The Tycoon is going to the Mangrove Islands for water, and maybe we shall be lucky enough to catch her there. If we can't stand it to do without food for that length of time we had better jump overboard at once, for we've no business to be sailors. Come, Lucas, begin there in the bow, and sing a song or tell a story!"
"I can't, sir!" replied the sailor.
"All right. You shan't have any water the next time it is passed around. Go on, Barton. Sing a song or tell a story—a lively one, mind."