'Then 'e's gone overboard for sartin,' said Brooks in great alarm; 'there was the look of it in 'is eye, and in yours, too, youngster. These long calms is fataler than scurvy. I'll go aft and report it.'
He reported it to Mr. Seleucus Thoms, the second mate, who came for'ard and roused the scattered watch below from the deck-house and t'gallant fo'c'sle. When all hands were mustered it was certain that Gribbs was missing.
'This is a terrible catastrophe,' said Seleucus Thoms, who had a weakness for fine language derived from his rare Christian name, of which he was extremely proud; 'my name is not Seleucus Thoms if he hasn't gone overboard.'
''E was most rampagious with laughter in the second dog-watch, sir,' put in old Brooks. 'And 'e talked of green fields, the which I 've 'eard is a werry fatal symptom of calentoor.'
'Humph,' said Mr. Thoms, 'there's something in that.'
And when he went for'ard old Brooks was 'as proud as a dog with two tails.' Though he usually spent the second dog-watch daily in proving that Thoms was no sailor, this endorsement of his theory flattered him greatly.
'I've been mistook in the second,' he said, as Thoms went aft. 'He's got 'orse sense, after all. I shouldn't be surprised if 'e'd make a sailor some day.'
And Thoms reported the catastrophe to Watchett.
'Drowned himself,' roared the captain; 'drowned himself. And who's responsible if you ain't?'
He came on deck in a great rage and scanty pyjamas and mustered the crew aft, and raved at them for full ten minutes as if it were their fault. When he had relieved his mind he asked if there was any one who could throw light on the matter, and old Brooks was shoved to the front. He explained his views on calentures.