“Then out with it, for a boy like you don’t want to keep anything very serious on his mind too long at a time.”
Ned looked around to make certain there was no one in the immediate vicinity who could overhear him, and whispered:
“Will you promise that I shan’t be left behind when you sink the brig?”
Mr. Stout started as if having received a heavy blow from a weapon, and an instant later grasped Ned by the arm with sufficient force to cause considerable pain, as he asked in a hoarse whisper:
“What do you mean by that, lad? Where did you learn anything of the kind?”
“You was talkin’ in the pantry, an’ I could hear every word while I was sick in my room.”
“Come here! Let’s find out jest how easy that can be done,” and in his excitement the chief mate dragged Ned roughly into the pantry. “Now you speak here, while I go where you was.”
An instant later the boy heard him say from the opposite side of the partition:
“Now go ahead, an’ talk low.”
“You can hear me if I whisper,” Ned replied, suiting the action to the words.