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"No," said little Tadcaster, white as a ghost; "he is only under water, I know; waiting waiting." "There he is," cried one in the ratlines. There was a rush to the taffrail great excitement. "Keep clear of me," said Staines quietly but firmly. "It can only be done at the moment before he cuts the wire." The old shark swam slowly round the bait. He saw it was something new.
All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat, and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the painter.
The last man left the ship when the heat on the poop became so great that it was scarcely possible to stand there. Still Montague and Gascoyne stood side by side near the taffrail, and the gig with her crew floated just below them. The last boatful of men pulled away from the burning vessel and then Montague turned, with a deep sigh, and said: "Now, Mr. Gascoyne, get into the boat.
Noting all these things at a glance, George turned to saunter aft, thinking that on such a perfectly calm day, and with such still water, he might, by leaning well out over the taffrail, get a glimpse of the ship's bottom and see whether it had fouled at all, or whether the copper showed any signs of wrinkling. Arrived at the taffrail, he leaned well out over it, and peered down into the water.
The moon was whitening the sleeping Pacific when Edith and I stood looking over the taffrail as the Messenger of Light swept on her course. From nearby came the voice of Professor Herndon relating his experiences to a missionary who was returning from the Marquesas. A soft island melody was wafted from the fo'c'stle, and the night was alive with all the witchery of the tropics.
"Jump!" he cried, and Ronald without a moment's hesitation leaped from the taffrail. He came up close to the boat, and was instantly hauled on board by Malcolm. Just at that moment the guard, who had stood stupefied by Ronald's sudden action, gave a shout of alarm and discharged his piece. The ball struck the boat close to Ronald.
Dexter pitied me heartily, for it made her quite ill to look down the cabin hatch; but I convinced her that no inconveniences are legitimate subjects for sympathy which are endured in the pursuit of pleasure. There was just room on deck for me to sit on a box, and the obliging, gentlemanly master, who, with his son and myself, were the only whites on board, sat on the taffrail.
He knew that on many occasions he was on the verge of lunacy, because he could not help indulging in half-delirious visions of Captain Johns being picked up by the scruff of the neck and dropped over the taffrail into the ship's wake the sort of thing no sane sailorman would think of doing to a cat or any other animal, anyhow.
He then leaped upon the taffrail and waved his hand to them and shouted, but they were too far off to hear his voice. "Murray, Murray, who do you think that is?" shouted Jack. "I know who it is like," answered Murray. "It is like " Just at that moment a terrific roar was heard. The entire vast mass of the wreck seemed to be lifted up bodily into the air. Up, up it went.
I hailed, in French, as, with main-topsail aback, we surged and wallowed slowly athwart the stern of the stranger, "do you wish to be taken off?" At the first sound of my voice, the man who had pointed us out to the woman rose stiffly to his feet and staggered aft to the taffrail, with his hand to his ear. "But yes," he shouted back, in the same language; "our ship is sinking, and "
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