"We've been working steadily all night at the pumps, sir, hopin' to keep her afloat, sir. The old man—I beg pardon, Captain Sackett,—says as he'll not abandon her while she swims. The rest of us have permission to go, sir."
"Is her cargo of any particular value, then?"
"Yes, sir. It's palm oil and valuable woods. There's eight hundred barrels of palm oil in her, and the captain's got his all—every cent he has in the world. He won't leave her."
"Do you know what you resemble, hey?" said our skipper, dryly.
"I do not, sir."
"Well, I don't want to hurt the feelings of a poor, shipwrecked sailor, nor insinuate nothing sech as no gentleman ought. No, sirree. You are my guest aboard here, and damned welcome to you. At the same time, if I ware telling anybody as to what kind of a fellow you was, I should say,—yessir, after thinking the matter over carefully, and taking all points into consideration,—I might say that I thought ye an all-around white-livered, cowardly cuss, an' that's a fact."
The English mate turned red. He started to say something, and then checked himself. Finally he blurted out:—
"I've heard tell of some Yankee skippers who've given a bad name to your infernal shipping, an' I reckon I've run up against one. But no fear! I recognize you as our saviour, an' won't say a word, sir. The retort courteous, as the saying is, would be a crack on the jaw of such a fellow, but I don't say as I'll do it, sir. There's some fellows as needs rippin' up the back, but you bein' captain of this here ship, I won't say who they is, sir. No, sir, I won't say who they is, or nothin'. I just ask that I be sent back aboard the Sovereign. The boat ain't gone yet, and, by the Lord, I'll drown before I get into a ship like this."
"Well, by hookey, you won't, then," snarled the captain; "you'll stay aboard this boat. A man that's born to be hung mustn't be drowned. Hey, there, Rolling," he bawled, looking forward to where I stood, "get out the boat and go with those fellows. Get all the rest afeard to stay aboard, and come back. We won't stay here all day waiting for a lot of fellows too afeard to know what they want."
The noise of the talking brought a female figure to the combings of the companionway, and as the skipper finished, Miss Sackett stood on deck.