They approached the captain with an air of uneasiness, turning their hats about in their brawny hands, while divers bumps might have been observed to rise now and then, and disappear immediately on their weather beaten cheeks: probably they were the various protrusions created by the quid, while it went through the many revolutions in which it was then twisted.
“What were your wages, by the month, men?” inquired the captain, when the English sailors stood before him, bending on them, at the same time, one of his searching and stern looks.
The sailors looked at each other, then at the captain, and then at each other again, and could not, apparently, be bold enough to reply, lest the question might, eventually, prove to be some trap by which it was intended to ensnare them into some confession or other that would tend to aggravate their sufferings. The captain neither showed signs of impatience nor renewed his question, but remained still, looking stedfastly on the sailors, with the cool composure of one who does not wonder that others should feel embarrassed in his presence; but, on the contrary, expects a degree of confusion on the part of those who are addressed by him. The oldest man of the five, however, at last spoke and answered:
“Three pounds a month, your honor,” raising his hand, at the same time, to the part of his head where the brim of his hat should have been, if that necessary cerebral protection had happened to be in its proper place at the time, and not in his hands.
“Have any of you received any advances on your wages?” again inquired the captain.
“Half of a months’ wages have been paid at home, your honor,” answered the old tar, of which answer, when he had duly delivered himself, he looked anxiously round at his four companions respectively, and seemed to inquire, “what will this lead to?”
The captain drew from a purse several pieces of gold, which, when he had divided into several small sums, he gave to the sailors.
“There are your wages,” he said, as he tendered the money to them, “for the five months that you have been on the voyage, we give, and do not take from such as you.”
The sailors looked bewildered. They could scarcely believe their ears, and they cast glances of amazement at each other. Even the appearance of money, it would appear, could not re-assure them; they put out their hands to receive the tendered wages like men who were afraid to receive something that was given lest danger should be attached to it.
“We shall land you on the nearest head-land,” continued the captain, “in the mean time, you may enjoy your liberty. If any of you wish to join my men, you can do so. The rules of the ship are few: I require but one thing—obedience. Death is the penalty of the least breach of discipline.”