CHAPTER XVIII.
ON SHORE AGAIN.
FOR TEN minutes—it seemed an hour to him—Guy stood there with his hands on the side waiting for the signal which was to tell him that the moment had arrived for him to make a strike for his liberty; but Flint did not give it.
Guy began to get impatient. He looked about the deck, but although the crew were in sight, none of them seemed to be paying any attention to him or his movements. The first mate was standing at the head of the companion ladder, gazing toward the light-house at the entrance of the harbor, and the second mate, the one he most feared, was nowhere to be seen. But for all that, he was close by, and on the watch, too. Flint saw him, and that was the reason he did not give the signal for which Guy was so impatiently waiting.
The vigilant officer, who seemed to see everything that took place on board the vessel, knew Guy’s plans as well as he knew them himself, for he had crouched at the head of the ladder and looked down into the forecastle while Guy was preparing for his attempt at escape.
The mate’s first thought was to seize him as he came on deck and shake him out of his superfluous clothing; but after a little reflection he decided to adopt another mode of punishment. He would wait until Guy was about to leave the ship and then give him a lesson that he would remember as long as he lived.
As Flint turned away after taking leave of his young friend, he saw the mate crouching behind the long boat, holding in his hand a stick of wood which he had caught up as he passed the galley.
The sailor knew in an instant why he was there, and would have turned back to warn Guy, but the officer, divining his intention, made an impatient gesture with his hand, and Flint was obliged to pass on.
Guy waited and listened, growing more and more impatient, until at last he could no longer control himself. The wharf was almost within reach of him, and if his feet were once firmly planted upon it, his escape could be easily accomplished. A few quick bounds would carry him out of sight in the darkness, and if he were followed, he could creep into some alley or door-way and remain there until the danger was past. He resolved to try it.