Ho, the heart of a man is an onion, boys,
An onion, boys, with a shedding skin.
And it never grows old, for you off with its hide,
When you meet a new love, and it’s fresh within!”
There were more of these verses, one to fit every sea, of which there be more than seven, as the song proved. The beef-eaters and Captain Phipps joined in the chorus, for the boatswain gave it a rare flavor of music.
At the wheel, the second mate had jammed a marlin spike between the spokes, to hold the brig on the wind, and sitting cosily down had gone fast asleep. The lookout aloft had become absorbed in the singing, to which he was bending every attention. In the midst of a chorus, which might and might not have been the finale of Adam’s ditty, there was a sudden alarm that rang from one end to the other of the brig, and all too abruptly a black hulk of a ship, with never a light, came sizzling the brine in her speed, the length of a few anchor-chains away, and made for the “Spencer” with dire intent.
The music ceased as if it had been cut off with a knife. Scuttling swiftly to the side of the ship and then bawling orders, and chasing to the armory in hot haste, Phipps, Adam and the others yelled that a pirate was upon them. The words, like an incantation of marvelous potency, summoned men like so many gnomes, from hatches, companion-ways and fo’castle, on the instant.
The brig’s deck suddenly swarmed with its own men, running hither and thither, shouting, stumbling, swearing, while Phipps and Rust came darting back with arms full of cutlasses, pistols and muskets, gathered helter-skelter, and now thrown with a great clatter upon the planking.
Scrambling here to arm themselves, the sailors heard a crunch, felt the brig shudder beneath their feet and beheld half a dozen iron hooks come flying over the gunwale from the pirate, and saw them jerk snug up to the rail, as the raiders pulled taut on the lines that quickly lashed the two vessels together.
A black cascade of men came leaping from the pirate, landing heavily on the “Spencer’s” deck. Their pistols blazed yellow exclamation points of fire, as the men struck on their feet, and then with a clash of steel on steel, Rust, Phipps and half a score of sailors rushed upon the invaders and a mad scuffle and melée ensued.