‘It would need to keep on raining for a long while to do that,’ said I, laughing. ‘I am going below to inspect the forepart of her, and to ascertain, if possible, what her hold contains. Will you accompany me? The hull rolls steadily; you will not find walking inconvenient, and it is very necessary that you should occupy your mind.’
‘I should like to do so,’ she answered; ‘but ought not one of us to stay here in case the sea should clear and show us the ships?’
‘Alas!’ said I, ‘there is no wind, and the ships probably lie as motionless as we. This weather will not speedily clear, I believe. We shall not be long below, and any sort of exertion is better than sitting here in loneliness and musing upon the inevitable, and adding the misery of thought to the distress of our situation.’
‘Yes, you are right,’ she exclaimed, rising. ‘You give me some heart, Mr. Dugdale, yet I do not know why. There is nothing that you can say to encourage me to hope.’
To this I made no reply, but took her hand, and assisted her to descend the ladder. She came to a stand at the foot of it, as though terrified by the gloom.
‘It is dreadful,’ she exclaimed in a low voice, ‘to think that only a few short hours ago the poor lieutenant whose heart was beating high with thoughts of returning home, should have been laughing and joking—here! I can hear his voice still; I can hear Mr. Colledge’s laughter. Hark! What noises are those?’
‘Rats!’ I exclaimed.
The squeaking was shrill and fierce and close to. I lighted a candle, she meanwhile coming to my side, her elbow rubbing mine, as though she would have my hand within an instant’s reach of her own. The squeaking continued. It sounded as though there were some score of rats worrying something, or fighting among themselves.
‘Hold this candle for a moment,’ said I, and I advanced to the bulkhead and grasped a cutlass, and then peeped into the little passage that divided the after cabins. The rats were somewhere along it, but it was too dark to see; so laying the cutlass aside, I took down a musket and sent the heavy weapon javelin-fashion sheer into the thick of the hideous noise. A huge rat as big as a kitten rushed over my feet; Miss Temple uttered a shriek, and let fall the candle.
‘Do not be alarmed!’ I shouted; ‘the beasts know their way below;’ and seeing the pallid outline of the candle upon the deck I picked it up and relighted it.