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"I say, cook," I half whispered, "you were a good deal on deck?" "No, sir, not much, I was busy here. The crew ate a deal." "But you knew about Mr Walters being shut up in the cable-tier?" The cook glanced uneasily toward the forecastle-hatch and shook his head. "They can't hear you," I said, "and even if they could they can't get at you."
We sailed from Newport early in February, 1783; and were taken five days after, off the capes of Virginia, by the Fair American privateer, of those parts, mounting sixteen six-pounders, and having 85 men, commanded by one Burton, a refugee, most of whose officers were of the same stamp. We were immediately handcuffed two and two, and ordered into the hold in the cable-tier.
Thompson to go before, and represent my calamity; at which the first mate, expressing some concern, went upon deck immediately, taking his way through the cable-tier and the main hatchway, to avoid encountering me; desiring me to clean myself as soon as possible: for he intended to regale himself with a dish of salmagundy and a pipe.
"Yes, perhaps so," I said thoughtfully. "Why, o' course," growled Dumlow. "What? They are in the cable-tier?" "Oh, I dunno, sir; I was a-thinking about our taking they wittles in the s'loon, and it's come back like sort o' bells ringing in my ear, and Mr Denning saying she's dying. Oh yes, I recklect that, and the doctor coming. That's 'bout as far as I can get."
"Cable-tier? Where's that?" "Just forward. Front of the forksle," I shouted. "We must get the hatch off." "No, no; not till Mr Brymer comes," said Mr Denning.
Many a time, after we had gone through the motions of dining, without eating, and as we sat in our dark, hot hole, over our undrinkable potations and our inedible eatables, each of us resting his hungry head upon his aching elbows, watching the progress of some animated piece of biscuit, would Master Daunton, the slave of our lamp, which, by-the-by, was a bottle bearing a miserably consumptive purser's dip, beside which a farthing rushlight would look quite aldermanic I say, this slave of our lamp would perch himself down on the combings of the cable-tier hatchway, in the midst of the flood of Heaven's blessed daylight, that came pouring from aloft into this abyss, and very deliberately take out his private store of viands, and there insultingly wag his jaws, with the most complacent satisfaction, in the faces of his masters.
But he took him by the collar behind, and pushed him along to the quarter-deck, where an elderly officer was pacing up and down alone. "Well, Tom," said the captain, stopping in his walk, "what's the matter? Who's that you've got?" "Please yer honour," answered the boatswain, giving Clare a shove, "this here's a stowaway in his majesty's ship, Panther. I found him snug in the cable-tier.
An hour later a sort of council of war was held in the captain's cabin, and it was decided to well nail up the hatch of the cable-tier as well, there being no dread of the men breaking out in other directions on account of the closely-packed-in heavy cargo, much of which consisted, as I said, of machinery agricultural implements and the like for the Antipodes.
But there came a shriek and a loud slap down of a lid, and then I opened my eyes and saw the men all laughing, and found what they had done. For they had given the poor fellow a few swings to make him believe he was going over, and then all at once took a few steps and shot him down feet first into the cable-tier, shutting the lid over him directly after."
I was so excited by my discovery, which was one of those simple finds that the wonder was it had not been thought of at once, I could hardly contain myself, and I made for a swinging lantern and took it down. "What is it? What have you found out?" cried Mr Denning at the top of his voice, though it only sounded feeble then in the din of the storm. "It's some one in the cable-tier," I cried.
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