“Will not dey starf?”
“They have plenty of provisions, and they have a good boat.”
“What will dey do with de money dey have taken?”
“May it founder them! The dogs! To force us down here when we should be in the Channel, or at home! Here am I now with this big brig on my single pair of hands, and you and the boy as helps and four horrible scoundrels to sentinel and feed.”
I felt sick with heart-weariness at that moment. An eternity of waters stretched between me and England in the measureless miles of Southern Ocean, in the measureless miles of south and north Atlantic. How was I to manage with one half-crazy boy and a girl to help me, and four prisoners to guard?
“De dollars are saved,” said the señorita, bringing her eyes with a flash in them from the boat to my face.
“You are the greatest heroine the world has ever produced,” said I.
“It is a day of glory for you, and your money is safe,” said she.
I looked at her a little sullenly; I was in no temper for irony.
“If de money is safe, I am safe,” said she, “for one goes before de other, and to be safe I am content to be second.”