“I am less hurt than you,” said I. “Only my arm is numbed by the whack the English knave gave me; while you, Ludar, are bleeding, head and foot.”
“I was scratched,” said he. “The villains who set on me were too quick, as you saw, and had me down before I could shut my fist. Why they did not despatch me then and there I know not; but in seizing me they carried their blades in their teeth, the better to use their hands, so that I was able to snatch one for my own use as I fell. It served only to rid me of one of the company. Yet I got my feet again under me, when the other two made at me, as well as the two who had fled from you. Among them all I got these scratches. When the fifth came, who had seen the poet aloft, I knew I could hold ground no longer; so I gave way, as you saw, and made for your barrier. After that you know, and how the maiden stood by us all through, and in the end fetched the pistol which finished the business. Had these villains but been armed, it is they who would have buried us. But come in now, Humphrey, and take counsel.”
’Twas a strange ship’s company that met that evening in the dead captain’s cabin. The maiden, Ludar, I, and one of the English fellows, who had been sleeping below and knew naught of the fight till all was over. As for the poet, Ludar still refused to have him down till our conference was over.
Of all our party the maiden was, I think, the most hopeful. “God and His saints,” said she, “have ordered this to try us, and see of what mettle we be. Shall we despair, Sir Ludar, when He has proved His goodness to us? The past is done, the future is all before us. You are our captain now, and Humphrey and I and this brave sailor here, ay and our poor poet aloft there, are your crew to follow where you lead. I can man a gun and haul a rope, as you shall see. Come, Humphrey, what say you?”
“I have vowed,” said I, “to follow my master to the death. Nor can I think heaven will desert us while you who belong there, are aboard.”
She blushed at this and turned it off.
“Nay, my friend, it depends on how we do the duty that lies to our hand whether we belong there or not.”
Here Ludar broke in abruptly.
“Seaman, where be we now?”
The sailor got up and went out to ascertain our bearings.