'Thank you; for the short time we shall remain in this ship the cabin you have been good enough to prepare will be all I require,' she answered.
He peered through the skylight to see the hour.
'Five minutes to eight,' he exclaimed. 'Mr. Jones!' The man crossed the deck. 'I have arranged,' said the Captain, 'with the Deal boatman Abraham Wise to take charge of the barque during the middle watch. It is an experiment, and I shall require to be up and down during those hours to make sure of him. Not that I distrust his capacities. Oh dear no! From the vicious slipping of cables, merely for sordid purposes of hovelling, to the noble art of navigating a ship in a hurricane amid the shoals of the Straits of Dover, your Deal boatman is the most expert of men. But,' continued he, 'since I shall have to be up and down, as I have said, during the middle watch, I will ask you to keep charge of the deck till midnight.'
'Very good, sir,' said the mate, who appeared to me to have been on duty ever since the hour of our coming aboard. 'It will keep the round of the watches steady, sir. The port watch comes on duty at eight bells.'
'Excellent!' exclaimed the Captain. 'Thank you, Mr. Jones.'
The mate stalked aft.
'Mr. Tregarthen,' he added, 'I observe that you wear a sou'-wester.'
'It is the headgear I wore when I put off in the lifeboat,' said I, 'and I am waiting to get home to exchange it.'
'No need, no need!' cried he; 'I have an excellent wideawake below—not, indeed, perfectly new, but a very serviceable clinging article for ocean use—which is entirely at your service.'
'You are all kindness!'