I heard the gentlemen laughing as they looked at our weapons, and in a twinkling the pieces were thrown down on the deck with so little care that the hammer of one was broken off short to the lock, but those who served the king had little care how they destroyed the property of those whose crime consisted in being born Americans.
The midshipman got one whiff from the hold, which I'm free to admit wasn't pleasing, and the soldiers were sent below while he stood with a handkerchief decked out with lace held to his nose, as if in danger of fainting.
As a matter of course nothing was found below, save a lot of mud and some oyster shells. A blind man might have seen that so far as the vessel was concerned she could be nothing more than an honest oysterman; but the whifflet forced the marines to search over every portion of the hold, and while this was being done one of the officers asked how many bushels we sold to those of the Narcissus.
Darius replied to the question, speaking as nearly unlike a sailor as possible, and not until he had stated the price, showing British silver as proof of the amount received, was the curiosity of the gentleman satisfied.
Then the midshipman clambered over the side of the ship to make his report, and the moment had come when if any of our number were to be taken from us, we would be made aware of it.
I stood by the side of Darius trembling with apprehension, and even amid my fear I took note of the fact that Jerry was feeling far from comfortable in mind, while the old man chewed incessantly on a huge piece of tobacco that caused his cheeks to swell out as if on the point of bursting.
Although we had good cause for being frightened, nothing came of it, and never did words sound more sweetly in my ears than when one of the officers said:
"You can get on about your business; but don't make the mistake again of trying to get below us without first reporting."
"We wasn't countin' on goin' very far away, sir," Darius replied awkwardly. "There's good fishin' to be found around the islands here, an' I was reckonin' on gettin' the drags out."
"Very well, but see to it that you heave to when coming nearabout, and remain until getting permission to proceed."