“But what if he is not?” said I.
“Why, Muster Merry, I wanted to see him very much before he went on deck,” he answered.
“On what account?” I asked, convinced that Toby had something to say which he, at all events, considered of importance, and I thought he might just as well tell me before he communicated it to the boatswain. He was Mr Johnson’s servant, it must be remembered.
“Why, sir, I don’t know whether I am right or wrong,” he whispered, coming close up to my hammock. “It’s just this, sir. We have got, you know, some three or four hundred French prisoners aboard, at all events many more than our own crew now numbers, as so many are away in the prize, and others wounded. Well, sir, as I have been dodging in and out among them, I have observed several of them in knots, talking and whispering together as if there was something brewing among them. Whenever I got near any of them they were silent, because they thought I might understand their lingo, though I don’t. I was sure there was something wrong. It might be they didn’t like their provisions or their grog, and were going to ask for something else, but, whatever it was, I made up my mind to find it out. At last I remembered that there is a boy aboard, Billy Cuff, sir, who was taken prisoner by the French, and lived in their country for ever so long, and he used to be very fond of coming out with French words, though he is not a bit fond of the French, for they killed his father and his brother, poor fellow. Thinks I to myself, if Billy has not got much wits he has got ears, and we’ll see what we two together can find out. So I told Billy, and I got him to come and stow himself away near where I knew the Frenchmen would soon collect, and sure enough, sir, from what Billy heard, they have made up their minds to try and take the ship. They caught Billy and me stealing away, and from their looks they would have pitched us overboard if they had dared, but we tried to seem innocent like, as if we didn’t think any harm, and they still fancy it’s all right. Now if any of them saw me going up to speak to the boatswain they might suspect that something was wrong, and be on their guard. I’ve done right, I hope, sir?”
“Indeed you have, Bluff,” said I, highly pleased at the intelligence and forethought he had shown. It proved that his wits were sharpening at a great rate, that in fact he had got the hay-seed out of his hair very rapidly.
I agreed with him that it would not do to let any of the Frenchmen see him talking to the boatswain, because, if they were really going to rise, they might do so before preparations could be made to withstand them. He might go at once to Mr Bryan or to one of the other officers, or to Captain Collyer himself, but then I thought it more than probable that they would not believe him, so I told him to run up and to tell the boatswain that I wanted particularly to see him.
In a short time Mr Johnson’s long nosed, ruddy visage appeared above my hammock. I then told him, in a low voice, all I had heard from Toby.
“I should like to see them attempt it,” he answered, laughing. “It’s a cock-and-bull story, depend on that, Mr Merry, but still you did very right in sending for me. It’s possible that I may report the circumstance to the captain, as it’s right that he should know the zeal and intelligence exhibited by boys Bluff and Cuff, though, as I say, there’s nothing in it, depend on that.”
Notwithstanding Mr Johnson’s assertion I observed that he immediately sent for boy Cuff to his cabin, and, as Toby afterwards told me, interrogated him very closely as to what he had heard. Nothing, however, was said to me on the subject, and I began to fancy that boys Bluff and Cuff had been deceived, or were making a mountain out of a molehill. This matter had not made me forget Macquoid’s promised visit to us. The next morning, when we were all awake, I asked Spellman how he felt.
“Very jolly,” he answered. “But I have no intention of getting up and bothering myself with duty for some time to come. I’ve done enough for the good of the service to last me for some time.”