And as she said this she jumped as if a pin had been stuck into her.
'What's the matter?' asked her husband.
'Nothing,' said Connie. 'But let him come!'
She went for'ard to interview the cook, so she said. But she really went to interview Silas Bagge. When she came back she found Watchett and his wife on board. If she was a little stiff with Watchett he never noticed it. As a matter of fact the whims and fads and tempers of a woman were of no more account than the growling of the men for'ard. He was too much engaged in cursing the weather to pay her any attention.
'This licks me,' he said, 'in a week we ain't moved: we're stuck. 'Ow long will it last, Bill?'
'It looks as if it might last for ever,' replied Ryder. 'We've struck a bad streak.'
The women had tea and the men drank whisky and water. Although Watchett didn't know it, two of his hands left the boat and were given something to eat in the galley by Mrs. Ryder's orders. It was Bagge who conveyed the invitation with the connivance of the mate, for whom the word of the captain's wife was law.
''Ave some marmalade and butter,' said Bagge. 'Does they feed you good in the Battle-Axe, Gribbs?'
'Hog-wash,' said Gribbs with his mouth full. 'Ain't it, Tidewell?'
Tidewell, who was a youngster of a good middle-class family, who had gone to sea as an apprentice and run from his ship, agreed with many bitter words.