“No,” said I; “I mean with the boats. The brig could never fetch it, in her present disabled condition, except with a fair wind, even if you could keep her afloat so long, which I do not for a moment believe.”
A grim smile of satisfaction—which the fellow strove to conceal—flickered for a moment over his rugged, sullen features, and then he turned away, without another word, and slouched forward, followed by his companions. As for me, I went aft and took the wheel from the man who was tending it; and, as soon as he had disappeared, lashed it, and set about certain preparations that I felt it was now high time to make. These did not occupy me long, and upon their completion I went below, where—the cook and Steward having been busy at the pumps all the morning—Florence was awaiting me with a good, appetising dinner prepared by herself. While we were discussing the meal together—the steward having gone forward with the others—I told my companion that the supreme moment was at hand when it would be necessary for us to make a bold dash for our lives, and I warned her to prepare for it by putting all her slender stock of clothing together in a parcel, and to be ready to act with me at a moment’s notice as soon as the boats were in the water. She received my intelligence very quietly, and although she lost her colour and became marble-white to the lips for perhaps a minute while I explained my plans, her courage never faltered; and when I had finished she put her hand in mine, with the simple remark:
“Very well, Charlie dear; you have only to tell me what you wish me to do, and you will find me obedient in every particular.”
Meanwhile, the wind, which had been blowing a strong breeze at breakfast-time, had been dropping steadily all through the day, until toward the close of the afternoon it had softened down to the strength of a royal breeze, with a corresponding diminution in the height of the sea; yet it was evident that it would not be possible to safely lower a boat for some hours to come. But that the men were eager to be off was also perfectly evident, for instead of manning the pumps again after dinner, they had spent the entire afternoon hanging about the decks, inspecting and overhauling the boats, getting provisions, water, and other necessaries together—the cook lighting a fire in the galley, and boiling a considerable quantity of meat in the coppers—while, at intervals, one or another of them would sound the well, and report the result to his comrades; their actions being marked by a curious commingling of stealthiness and candour, as though they were quite unable to decide whether to keep their intentions a secret from me, or whether it would be possible to still more completely hoodwink me by a pretence of being perfectly frank and open. At length, however, the latter plan seemed to be the favoured one; for about sunset the man Sam came to me with the information that they, had decided to leave the brig at daybreak, and they’d be glad to know whether I thought the hooker ’d keep above water until then without pumpin’. Before replying, I inquired what depth of water there was then in the hold, and at what rate it was making, after which a brief calculation enabled me to assure them that she would probably last until noon next day; but that nevertheless I would recommend them to prepare for a start the first thing after breakfast; and that the lady and I would be ready by that time.
From this time forward the brig—hove-to, and with her helm lashed—was left to take care of herself, the greatly-improved condition of the weather permitting of this, while the men proceeded, in their own slow, deliberate fashion, with their preparations for abandoning her. As for us aft, our preparations were of the simplest possible kind, consisting merely of the stowing of our clothing in a bundle that could be flung into the boat at a moment’s notice—and the very careful loading of the brace of duelling-pistols with which my unknown French friend had presented me. These little matters attended to, I urged Florence to lie down and endeavour to secure a few hours’ sleep, following the same good advice myself as soon as she had retired to her cabin.
I was awakened about midnight by the man Harry, who had been anxiously awaiting the moment for the others to get to sleep, in order that he might slip aft, unnoticed, to inform me of the progress of his own particular share in our enterprise.
“Well, Harry,” said I, “how do matters stand? Have you succeeded in accomplishing all that I directed you to do?”
“Yes, sir,” said he. “I was afride at first that I shouldn’t get a chaunce to go down into the fore-peak without bein’ noticed; but ‘the doctor’ made that right by asting for somebody to fetch him up a bit more coal. Which I offered to do for him. Once I was down in the peak, the rest was easy enough; the arms-chist hadn’t never been locked, so I collared a couple of pair of pistols, and then scraped the coal away from under the chist until the whole bag o’ tricks fetched away and slid down into the water, where nobody won’t ever find it again. Then I had a look at the magazine what poor Chips had knocked together. The door was only fastened by a staple, so I soon had it open; and when I’d found a couple o’ packets of pistol-cartridges, I just hove everything else I could lay hands on down a’ter the arms-chist. So, even though some of ’em has pistols, they won’t have no ammunition for ’em—unless they happened to have a few cartridges by ’em—which makes us all right.”
“Capital!” exclaimed I. “And, now, as to the final arrangements of the men; what are they?”
“Why, ’twas arranged that I was to be on deck, so’s to keep a sort of general heye on the brig and you; and to call all hands for’ard at daybreak—or earlier if the sea flattens down enough to launch a boat afore then. Then we’re goin’ to lower the gig that you had when you picked us up—she bein’ the most wholesomest boat of the two—and put everything into her that we’re goin’ to tike with us—includin’ plenty o’ grub and water. And at the last minute, when we’re ready to shove off, you and the lidy are to be set upon and battened down below, and then we all jumps into the boat and makes sail.”