"All ready."
"Not afraid of the rats?" I said, with a laugh.
"No, nor wuss than rats," he replied. "Has the lady got my clothes on yet? I should like to see her."
"She'll come when we are ready. That light shining on the skylight must be concealed. I don't want to put the lamp out, and am afraid to draw the curtains for fear the rings should rattle. There's a tarpaulin in the starboard quarter-boat, take and throw it over the skylight whilst I go aft and talk to the fellow steering. Who is he?"
He found the tarpaulin, and concealed the light, whilst I spoke to the man at the wheel about the ship's course, the look of the weather, and so on.
"Now," said I, rejoining the boatswain, "come and take two or three turns along the poop, that Cornish may see us together."
We paced to and fro, stopping every time we reached the wheel to look at the compass.
When we were at the fore end of the poop I halted.
"Walk aft," I said, "and post yourself right in the way of Cornish, that he shan't be able to see along the weather side of the poop."