"Belay, Job!" exclaimed Diccon. "Easy all. Yonder she cometh."
Sure enough, I saw Joanna descend the ladder from the poop and come mincing across the deck towards us.
"Hola, Belvedere, mon Capitan!" said she, glancing about her quick-eyed. "You keep your ship very foul, yes. Dirt to dirt!—ah? But I am aboard and this shall be amended—look to it. And your mizzen yard is sprung; down with it and sway up another—"
"Aye, aye, Jo," said Belvedere, nodding. "It shall be done—"
"Mañana!" quoth she, frowning. "This doth not suit when I am aboard, no! The new yard must be rigged now, at once, for we sail with the flood—voilà!"
"Sail, Jo?" said Belvedere, staring. "Can't be, Jo!"
"And wherefore?"
"Why—we be short o' water, for one thing."
"Ah—bah, we shall take all we want from other ships!"
"And the lads be set, heart and soul, on a few days ashore."