"Perhaps it don't make much difference."
"I am afraid it will make considerable difference. Suppose the traitor has been on board the Ben Lomond?"
"The what?"
"The Tallapoosa; they have changed her name. Keep a sharp lookout forward for the ship, bowman."
"Ay, ay, sir! I can't see a thing yet."
"Suppose he has been on board, Mr. Somers?" continued the boatswain.
"If he has, we may have to fight for the vessel."
"Well, we can do that," replied Tom, as he involuntarily grasped his cutlass.
"He has forty men aboard of her now, besides the firemen and coal-heavers."
"Our boys wouldn't mind forty of them."