"Can yew give we a hand wi' this boat ov ourn, zurr?"
"If that isn't a Zummerset or Devon yokel, sink me for a landlubber!" remarked Captain Jeremy; and almost at the same moment 'Enery, who had descended to the main top, shouted, "Bless me, Cap'n, if it ain't Garge Oddicombe."
"Aye, aye, we'll send a boat," replied Captain Jeremy to the other's request; and in a very short space of time twenty men, with 'Enery in charge, were making-towards the forlorn brig, I having obtained permission to accompany them.
"Look sharp!" shouted our Captain as the boat shoved off. "Make all snug alow and aloft, and keep us in company."
A strange sight met our eyes as we gained the deck of the brig, which, by the name painted on her stern, we now knew to be the Neptune of Topsham.
The confusion on deck was in accordance with the disorder aloft. Ropes, gun tackles, broken casks and planks, and torn canvas were lying about in the utmost disorder; while some hundred men, grotesquely dressed in motley costumes, gazed at us with mingled expressions of relief, curiosity, and fear. Many still wore the smocks of their native Somerset and Devon, but gone was the healthy hue of a country life. Haggard faces, unkempt hair, and beards showed that these sons of the soil had had a trying time on shipboard.
Without waiting to question this mixed crew, some of whom recognized our men as comrades on the fatal field of Sedgemoor, 'Enery took steps to ensure the safety of the brig, for the wind was piping up in long-drawn moans, the forerunners of the expected gale; and by the time everything was snugged down the sea was too high to permit the boat to return to the Golden Hope for further orders.
Under easy canvas both brigs scudded before the gale, and, thanks to 'Enery's management, and the fact that the Neptune was a seaworthy craft, we had no fears as to her ability to make good weather of it.
All night we kept the Golden Hope's poop lanterns in view, both vessels being of about the same turn of speed; nor was it possible to return to our own craft until late in the afternoon of the following day.
Nevertheless, long before that time we were acquainted with the facts that led up to our meeting with the Neptune, and a ghastly story it was.