The old man lighted his pipe in a sorrowful manner, as if saying to himself that the good ship might founder before he could finish his smoke, and the remainder of the crew began to spin yarns regarding signs and omens of which they had heard, until the whole boiling of them were worked up into the most doleful frame of mind.
Had the word been passed just then that a British privateer was in sight, I question if any undue excitement would have been shown by our men, so positive did all appear to be that we were on the eve of some great disaster.
At first Simon and I were disposed to laugh at these senseless forebodings, even though Master Joshua himself had been the first to give them words; but, later, it appeared to me as if much mischief might befall us because the men were so bent on persuading themselves that the carrying away of the topmast, especially on a Friday, was a token that some more than ordinarily serious danger threatened.
It would be reasonable to suppose that every privateersman was in danger so long as he remained afloat searching for the enemy; but to peril which had so good a foundation, these superstitious sailors gave no heed.
It was to them as if we had been protected until the moment after the topmast fell, and then we were not only left to our own devices, but given to understand that we could not escape even the ordinary dangers of the sea.
In reading over what has just been set down, I find that I have failed in giving a good idea of the state of mind into which every man Jack among us had fallen.
Perhaps at the time Simon and I did not fully realise what all this arguing, speech-making, and yarn-spinning on the subject of omens might amount to, but we had more than an inkling when, at a late hour on the second night after the topmast fell, while we were lounging about the deck simply because our watch was supposed to be on duty, Captain Ropes called for us to come aft.
Up to this moment he had given no heed whatsoever to Simon; it was as if the lad ceased to be a relative of his the moment he came aboard the ship as one of the crew, and I was feeling more than a trifle sore because my comrade’s father appeared to be copying so perfectly after Master Josh.