“Well, step in, Miss, then,” said Peter, offering his hand to help her, while he kept the boat close to the shore with his boat-hook. “I thought might be that the skipper would just hear what I’d got to say, and then kick me down the side again, as the chances are many I’ve met with would do.”
“Oh no! no! Captain Mudge will treat you kindly and reward you for the trouble you have taken,” said Jessie, as Peter began to pull away from the shore.
“As to trouble, Miss, I can’t boast much of that, seeing I didn’t go when I said I would,” answered Peter, in a greatly changed tone. “I like you, for you speak kindly to me; and I’m sorry I didn’t go when I promised; for, as you say, Miss, there’s no time to be lost. He was taken aboard the Falcon, and she is to sail this morning for the Indies, so that if he goes in her he won’t be back again for many a long year.”
This information increased poor Jessie’s agitation and anxiety. Fortunately, the boat was soon alongside the Amity: Peter hailed the deck. One of the crew looked over the side, and seeing Jessie, called the captain, who quickly made his appearance, while in the meantime the accommodation ladder had been lowered.
“What brings you here at this hour, my dear girl?” he exclaimed, with a look of anxiety in his countenance as he descended the ladder to help Jessie up the side. “Has anything happened to my mate?”
“Oh, yes, Captain Mudge; he has been pressed, and will be carried off to sea if we do not take him his protection,” answered Jessie as she reached the deck, no longer able to restrain her tears. “That boy knows all about it.”
Peter Puddle was called up, and gave the message he had received from Ralph with sufficient clearness.
“No time to be lost indeed,” exclaimed the captain. “Dear me! dear me! poor Ralph! We’ll make our way down the harbour as fast as sails and oars will send us along, and save him if we can. Lower the boat, lads, and take your breakfasts with you.”
Jessie, in spite of her anxiety, did not forget her promise to Peter; and the captain told him to go forward and get some food, which Toby Trott, the cabin boy, would give him. Peter pulled one of his shaggy locks and hastened to the caboose, where the cook was busy blowing up the fire, the grey smoke from which had just begun to curl in light wreaths towards the blue sky. In the meantime, Jessie accompanied the captain into the cabin.
“I reminded him to take his protection just as he was going ashore. He must have lost it, I fear, on his way,” observed the latter.