The captains looked at one another. They had been speaking of this matter only a few minutes before, but they feigned unconsciousness.
"What man do you mean, Sefami Bunt?" asked Captain Zeno, severely. "The prisoner who was caught stealin' hens from Palmyry Henshaw last week?"
The man nodded. "Says he wants somethin' to do!" he said. "Says he'd like to do chores round for his victuals. Says he doesn't like my victuals."
The captains chuckled. Sefami Bunt was a bachelor, and his housekeeping was not supposed to be of a high order.
"Have ye got him in the jail?" asked Captain Asy Bean.
The lantern-jawed man shifted uneasily to the other foot. "Wal, I hev!" he admitted. "But he doesn't seem to be contented with that." Then, after a pause, "I brung him with me. 'T want safe to leave him, for the jail door sags so I can't lock it, and the chain is bust. So 'f you'd like to see him for yerselves—"
"Where is he?" asked the captains in chorus.
Sefami Bunt gave a backward jerk with his head. "I tied him to the leg o' the table," he said. "The boys is mindin' of him. Sh'll I fetch him up?"
Receiving an affirmative answer, he disappeared, and returned, dragging the prisoner by the collar.
The latter, the instant he caught sight of the assembly of mariners, shook off his keeper with a single movement; then, making his obeisance in true seaman fashion, he glanced quickly round the room, and stood still, cap in hand, in an attitude of respectful humility.