"No, there are two rooms."
"He is left alone?"
"Jose is with him—a negro, with a knack at nursing."
"Who else is quartered aft here?"
He ignored the one thing I most desired to learn, but I did not press it, believing I knew the answer already.
"LeVere has this middle stateroom, and Mendez the one forward."
"What rank has Mendez?"
"Third officer, and carpenter. Just at present with LeVere required on deck, he has charge of the men below."
"The crew, you mean?"
"Not the working crew; they are quartered in the forecastle, and are largely English and Swede. But we have to carry extra men, who bunk amidships—hell-hounds to fight; damn mongrels of course."