'Do so!' said I.
He sprang on to the rail, and passed his knife through the ends of the falls. This effectually put an end to all chance of the fellows chasing us in that boat.
'There'll be plenty o' time for them to get the long-boat out,' shouted Abraham, running across the deck to us. 'They're seamen, and there's Nakier to tell 'em what to do.'
'Rot 'em for firing the ship!' cried Jacob. 'I don't believe she is on fire. They've made a smoke to scare us out of her!'
'Is everything ready?' I exclaimed.
'Hugh!' cried Helga, clasping her hands, 'I have forgotten my little parcel—the picture and the Bible!'
She was about to fetch them.
'I can be quicker than you,' I cried, and, rushing to the hatch, jumped down it, gained the cabin she had occupied in Captain Bunting's time, and snatched up the little parcel that lay in the bunk. There was no smoke down here. I sniffed shrewdly, but could catch not the least savour of burning. 'It is the fore part of the ship that is on fire,' I thought. As I ran to regain the hatch, it somehow entered my mind to recollect that while looking for a lead-pencil in the chief mate's berth, on the previous day, I had found a small bag of sovereigns and shillings, the unhappy man's savings—all, perhaps, that he possessed in the world—the noble fruits of Heaven knows how many years of hard suffering and bitter labour! I was without a halfpenny in my pocket, and entered the cabin to take this money, which I might hope to be able to repay to some next-of-kin of the poor fellow, should I ever get to hear of such a person, and which in any case would be more serviceable in my pocket than at the bottom of the sea, whither it was now tending. Having secured the money, which would be very useful to Helga and me, should we live to reach a port, I hastened on to the poop, heart-sickened by the dull noise of the ceaseless crying forward.
'Now,' said I, 'let us lower away, in the name of mercy, if only to free those wretches, half of whom may be already suffocated.'
Helga and I got into the boat, and Abraham and his mate smartly slackened away the tackles. In a few moments we were water-borne, with the blocks released—for there was little left for me to learn in those days of the handling and management of a boat—and myself standing in the bow, holding on by the end of the painter, which I had passed through a mizzen-channel plate. Abraham came down hand over hand by one of the tackles, and dropped into the boat, instantly falling to work to step the mast and clear away the sail.