"Was your captain the man who stood near the mizzen-rigging?"
The Frenchman took a long pull at the glass before answering, and then said, "Yes."
"Do you think he fell dead, or was he struck down?" said Hardy, looking critically at the wild and dangerous face, whose eyes stared into the Englishman's vision with the fixity of a buried bayonet.
"He fell dead," was the answer, and down went the remainder of the grog.
"I believe I saw a man rush from him aft when he fell," said Hardy.
An expression of anger deepened the ugly devil's look of malevolence, but he held his peace.
"Your captain is dead and you are here," said Hardy. "Your second mate will take charge of the barque, I suppose?"
"Our second mate was drowned a week after we left the Cape," answered the Frenchman.
"What will the crew do?"