"He'll catch his death lying here in the cold," he said; "let us carry him below, Philpotts!"
"Ay," said Ingle, carelessly, "ye may lay him in the cabin next mine, and the third and last cabin I'll have made ready for Mistress Neville. You're to be queen o' the ship while you're aboard," he added, turning to Peggy; "and when you land you shall have the salute of five guns I promised you at St. Mary's."
Peggy thanked the Captain with gracious courtesy, but Romney glowered and made as if to speak, then thought better of it, and lifting Neville with the help of Philpotts bore him down into the cabin, where they chafed feet and hands with brandy and wrapped the cold form in hot blankets.
To Huntoon's strained sense it seemed hours, though it was only minutes, before the rapid tread of feet on the deck, the creaking of ropes, and the flapping of sails gave notice that The Reformation was once more under way. Hurrying on deck, he was just in time to see The Lady Betty rise for the last time on the crest of the wave, and then, with a final shiver, plunge downward in five fathoms of water. Tears rose to his eyes and a ball that seemed as big as an apple stuck in his throat; but he gulped it down and began to pace the deck with a manner as indifferent as he could make it.
"There's ship's biscuit and hot stuff in the cabin," said Ingle. "You'd best come below and have some. You look as though you'd fasted near long enough."
It was the first time the thought of food had crossed Huntoon's mind, but he realized now that it was well on towards nightfall and he had not broken fast since seven in the morning. Yet when he was seated at the table despite his hunger he could scarce eat. Two things choked him: first, the thought of The Lady Betty lying on the sand five fathoms under water and her cargo on this pirate's deck; and afterward, when he had conquered this bitterness and looked up, the anger in his heart at sight of the ogling attention Richard Ingle was bestowing upon Peggy Neville.
The girl herself was more than a little frightened, but she held her head high.
"Had I known we were to have a lady aboard, I had had the cabin decorated."
"Bare walls go best with a sad heart, Captain Ingle."