"What's going on here?" asked a low voice.
The sailor who had last spoken touched his cap.
"I was down making the running-boat fast to the boom, sir, when I hears a faint cry, and I sees a man in the water just alongside, sir. I lays hold of him, and thinkin' it's one of our crew, sir, we gets him quietly at the forechains; then we sees as how he ain't one of us, sir,—he says."
"That'll do; let him speak for himself. Where did you come from, my man?"
"From the Poictiers, yonder, sir. For the sake of mercy don't give me up!"
"Are you an American?"
"Yes, sir; God's truth, I am."
"Your name?"
"McGovern, sir."
"Where were you born, McGovern?"