A steam hooter sounded in the town, the clatter and hammering died away, the coolies working in the ships were taken ashore, the sentries cooked their dinner in the hot brazier, and everything became still and quiet except the pain inside me.
I felt hungry and miserable and longed for the Laird's gun-room fire, and knew they were just beginning lunch aboard, and probably having a good rough-and-tumble fight.
"Pull your belt in, youngster, and buck up," said the Commander cheerily.
"Please, sir, I hav'n't got a belt."
"Well, get a big stone and lie on it."
That did relieve the pain a little.
"We've got eight or nine hours of it, youngster. Move your legs about every now and again to keep them from getting cramp."
Presently he asked me what plans I had made, and really I got quite excited in working out different schemes, and he was so jolly about it and never snubbed me that I forgot to be miserable for quite a long time.
Every now and again we stopped even whispering, whilst some Koreans straggled along the path beneath us, going to or coming from the fort.
At first we were in a horrible funk lest they should see the broken-down bushes and trampled grass, or even the sunken dinghy; but they were much too self-absorbed to notice anything, and gradually we left off fearing that they would discover us.