As he spoke he recognised Bill.
“Are you not the lad who gave notice of the plot of the American captain to capture our ship?” he asked.
Bill acknowledged that such was the case.
“I am truly glad that you have escaped. I promised our late captain that I would keep an eye on you,” he continued, “and I shall now have the opportunity. I thought you, with the rest of our poor fellows, had been lost when our ship blew up.”
Bill briefly described their adventures, and the lieutenant seemed much interested. He said he would have them at once entered on the ship’s books, for as they were likely soon to be engaged with the enemy, it might be of importance to them.
He accordingly sent for the purser, to whom he gave the proper directions. Bill and Jack then made their way below.
On passing the galley they saw a boy busily employed, assisting the cook’s mate in cleaning pots and pans. He looked up at them and started, letting drop the pot at which he was scrubbing.
“What! Bill! Jack! I thought you had gone to Davy Jones’s locker,” he exclaimed. “Are you really yourselves?”
“No doubt about it, Tom,” answered Bill and in a few words they again told their adventures.
Tom soon recovered from his astonishment. He appeared somewhat ashamed of his present occupation. He had got into a scrape, he acknowledged, and had been ordered to assist the cook’s mate.