“I don’t know: I shall see him again after Salter has paid us another visit.”
The chief steward came into the steerage a few minutes later; and seeing both of the prisoners engaged in study, as he supposed, he probably believed the hour of reformation had come. As soon as he had gone, Bill opened the scuttle again, and went down into the hold; but he was unwilling to leave the brig for more than a few moments at a time, lest some accident should betray his absence to the chief steward. He arranged a plan by which he could talk with Raimundo without danger from above. Returning to the brig, he lay down on the floor, with a book in his hand, so that his head was close to the scuttle. Bark was seated on the floor, also with a book in his hand, in such a position as to conceal the trap-door, which was raised a few inches, from the gaze of Mr. Salter, if he should happen suddenly to enter the steerage. Raimundo was to stand on the steps of the ladder, with his head on a level with the cabin floor, where he could hear Bill, and be heard by him.
“I think we can’t afford to quarrel,” said Bill magnanimously. “We are all in the same boat now. I suppose you are wanted on shore for some dido you cut up before you left your home.”
“I did nothing wrong before I left my home,” replied Raimundo; and it galled him terribly to be obliged to make terms with the rascals in the brig. “My trouble is simply a family affair; and, if captured, I shall be subjected to no penalty whatever.”
“Is that all?” asked Bill, sorry it was no worse.
“That’s all; but for reasons I don’t care to explain, I do not wish to be taken back to my uncle in Barcelona. But I will give myself up before I will let you burn the Tritonia,” replied Raimundo, with no little indignation in his tones.
“Of course, as things stand now, we shall not burn the vessel,” added Bill: “we will make a fair trade with you.”
“I shall make no trades of any kind; but I leave you free to do what you think best, and I shall remain so myself,” said Raimundo, who was too high-toned to bargain with fellows wicked enough to burn the beautiful Tritonia. “It is enough that I wish to get away from this city.”
“If you clear out, you won’t blow on us,” added Bill, willing to put the best construction on the statement of the second master.
“I promise nothing; but this I say: if you burn the Tritonia, whether I am on board or a thousand miles away, I will inform the principal who set the fire.”