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I am inclined now to think that this was so; for, after staring a few moments at Tom, in a doubtful sort of way, he went out of the fo'cas'le, saying that he would inquire further into the matter in the morning. Yet, when the morning came, he did no such thing. As for his reporting the affair to the Skipper, I much doubt it.
You'd better give them a call in the bosun's place, as you go." "i, i, Sir," I sung out, and hurried off. As I went, I heard him tell Tammy to go down and call the Mate. Reaching the fo'cas'le, I put my head in through the starboard doorway, and found some of the men beginning to turn-in. "It's all hands on deck, shorten sail," I sung out. I stepped inside.
After that we heard a great yell from the same voice, with the words, "Ahoy, Splinters, shift along the gear, will you?" and then Splinters, whoever he might be, was cursed in unchosen phrases as the son of all the lubbers that ever crowded a fo'cas'le.
Had Jim been as strong as when the two men measured forces weeks before, in the fo'cas'le of the Jeanne D'Arc, the result might have been different. But the struggle was too long, and Jim's strength insufficient. Chatelard freed himself from his antagonist sufficiently to wield the spike somewhere about Jim's head, and there came over him a sickening consciousness that he was going down.
Yet, I had a faint hope that those aft had seen it just before it disappeared; but this I knew was vain, directly I heard the Second's voice. "Light be damned!" he shouted. Then he blew his whistle, and one of the men ran aft, out of the fo'cas'le, to see what it was he wanted. "Whose next look-out is it?" I heard him ask. "Jaskett's, Sir." "Then tell Jaskett to relieve Jessop at once.
"Several of the sailors, experienced deep water seamen, laughed at our prognostications, and informed us there would be no storm within the next sixty hours, and insisted that, according to all fo'cas'le indications, a dead calm was in sight. "So unusually peculiar were the weather conditions that we talked of nothing else during the evening.
He threw his head back and laughed aloud. But before his laugh had time to echo in the narrow fo'cas'le, Jim leaped from his bunk upon his tormentor, like a cat upon a mouse, seized his right hand in a paralyzing grip, and was himself thrown violently to the floor.
Yet, I questioned within myself as to what manner of thing it could be which ignored the convenience of the scuttle, and descended by way of the broken skylight. We made a search of the decks and fo'cas'le, but found nothing, and, after that, the bo'sun stationed two of us on guard, whilst the rest went about such duties as were needful.
Far down among the shadows I thought, presently, that I could make out the immense, indefinite stretch of vast decks. "My God!" whispered Tammy, and shut up. But presently, he gave out a short exclamation, as though an idea had come to him; and got down off the spar, and ran forrard on to the fo'cas'le head.
I did not catch the rest. I had loitered a moment; now, however, I hurried after the others. As we neared the fo'cas'le, one bell went, and we roused out the other watch, and told them what jinks we had been up to. "I rec'on 'e must be rocky," one of the men remarked.
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