“What other fellows?”
“Why, them in the hold that keeps up such a wailing and groaning all the while.”
“Get out o’ this!” shouted the captain, looking about the deck as if he were searching for something to throw at Upham’s head. “I’ve heard enough. You pulled the wool over the eyes of a lot of soft Tommys on shore and kept us waiting three days for a crew, but you can’t talk any of your ghost stories into me. Go to your duty.”
“We’ve done our duty since we’ve been aboard, cap’n,” returned Upham, “and we’re ready to keep on doing it if you will only get rid of that other crew, but not a tack or sheet do we touch till this thing has been looked into. We’ve all made up our minds to that.”
“Oh, you’re going to mutiny, are you?” roared the skipper, his face growing purple with fury. “I’ll show you how I deal with such men. Mr. Schwartz, just step down into the cabin and bring up my pistols.”
The second mate started in obedience to the order, but the sailors, who were drawn up in line across the deck, moved forward as one man, and stood between him and the companion-way.
Things were getting serious, and Guy, who stood on the outskirts of the crowd, began edging his way toward the bow. Was he going after his handspike? No; he intended to dodge into the forecastle, where he would be safe. If the captain was going to use fire-arms to bring his crew to their senses, he did not want to be found in the way of the bullets.
The skipper’s actions indicated that he was in just the right humor to do something desperate. He stamped about the deck and swore at the top of his voice, but it was plain that, in spite of all his bluster, he was cowed by the bold front of his crew. When he paused to take breath, Upham spoke.
“We don’t want to go agin yer, cap’n,” said he, “and we don’t want to talk no ghost stories into you, neither. All we ask of you is to come down into the forecastle and listen to ’em with your own ears. I’ve heard ’em, and I hain’t a boy to be scared at nothing. I snuffed salt water before you ever saw daylight.”
The captain seemed on the point of making an angry reply, but just then the second mate, after holding a short consultation with the first officer, stepped up and said something to him in a whisper. The sailors could not hear what it was, but they saw the skipper’s face brighten at once.