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The rest hesitate; they have not thought of putting on the hatches, and to our great relief we see the crew springing up from the forepeak armed with axes, knives, and harpoons.
'You were observed, Captain, that night in the forepeak of the "Speedwell;" and those details, also, are known to me. It is needless to dissemble. "'That night in the forepeak? Lee Fu, for God's sake, what are you talking about? "'Ah! exclaimed Lee Fu with evident satisfaction. 'You are worthy of the occasion, Captain. That is well. It will be most interesting.
"No sooner I thinks that, than down I goes to the forepeak, where I found me rope all right; and thin, thin and there, boys, I unreaves the strands, making it all into spun yarn you know, I s'pose, as how I'm a sail-maker by rights, like Sails here, and not a reg'ler cook?" "The deuce you are!" ejaculated Sails; "you never told us that before." "No fear," replied Pat.
Juno put up a large supply for one day ground coffee, eggs, biscuit, cold mutton, a cold turkey, and several currant and apple pies, besides butter, salt, etcetera and Clump conveyed it down to the Youth for us on a wheelbarrow. The provisions were carefully stowed in the forepeak, and everything being arranged, we appointed Ugly to act as a guard over our craft during the night.
I saw that under his pretended indifference there was no little satisfaction at the thought of occupying, even for a day, a position in which he probably had once been accustomed to shine. My only fear was, that when he got back to the forepeak, and our rough manners and rougher conversation, he would remark the contrast, and become discontented with the lot he had chosen.
Next morning at sunrise Garry O'Neil went back to his ship with his crew of eight men all the skipper was able to spare him and by breakfast time they had made her all atauto, bending new sails, which they found below in the forepeak, in place of the tattered rags that hung from some of the yards, and otherwise making good defects, preparing the vessel for her passage home.
About this marmalade I shall have something to say by and by; but I think I had better go on with my yarn in proper ship-shape fashion, narrating events in the order in which they occurred merely stating, in order to give a full account of all concerning us, that, in addition to the particulars of our cargo as already detailed, we had sundry items of live freight in the shape of some pigs, which were stowed in the long- boat on top of the deck-house; three cats, two belonging to the Portuguese steward and messing in the cuddy, while the third was a vagrant Tom that had strayed on board in the docks, and making friends with the carpenter Gregory, or "old chips" as he was generally called, was allowed to take up his quarters in the forepeak, migrating to the cook's cabin at meal-times with unwavering sagacity; a lot of fowls, accommodated aristocratically in coops on the poop; and, lastly, though by no means least, the starling which I'd caught coming down Channel, and which now seemed very comfortable in the boatswain's old canary cage, hung up to a ringbolt in his cabin next to mine, and regarded as a sort of joint property between us two.
Out beyond the Holms the whaling ships lay at anchor, the Blue Peter flying at each forepeak, and between them and the town many boats were passing to and fro. I remember the day, not so much in connection with the whaling ships themselves as by the fact that their sailing fixes upon my memory the date of other more personal events which I am about to set forth in the following pages.
All hands don't turn in and sleep till the sun is up, or the ship would be apt to lose her way." A laugh at the mate's wit from some of the other men who had followed them into the forepeak, was heard out of the darkness. When the mate was gone, they gathered round Peter and began to amuse themselves at his expense.
The Chinaman lay on the floor, still groaning; the place was pitch dark. "Brown!" cried Carthew, "Brown, where are you?" His heart smote him for the treacherous apostrophe, but no answer came. He groped in the bunks: they were all empty. Then he moved towards the forepeak, which was hampered with coils of rope and spare chandlery in general. "Brown!" he said again.
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