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There was no reply, and it seemed to me that the speaker was settling himself down to go to sleep again, for he moved uneasily. "What did yer say, Neb?" I had not heard Neb Dumlow say anything, and I wondered why I had not, for I did not think I had been to sleep. But I felt that I must have been, or I should have heard. "Mussy me, what a head I've got!" muttered the voice.
Sometimes it's better; sometimes it's worse. 'Tarn't a nat'ral way o' taking blue pill, and consekently it don't agree with you. But don't you worry about that, nor me neither: I arn't killed yet." As Dumlow spoke, the others got carefully by me, and passed on out of sight. Then it came to his turn. "Stand fast, sir," he said. "I don't want to shove you down into that hole.
"Look sharp, lads," said Bob Hampton, "or Frog-soup 'll be back and bully us." "Must give the jollop purser a drop more," said Dumlow. "Here, he arn't dead neither; takes the water down as free as if it were grog. They'll come right agen, won't they?" "Ay, to be sure," said Bob Hampton. "Now then, heave ahead afore he comes. Rum games these here, messmets."
Now, Neb Dumlow, just look the young gent straight in the face and say what you thinks." "Couldn't ha' hit him no harder," growled the great fellow in his deep bass voice. "Not with one hand," acquiesced Hampton; "but you needn't ha' screwed both your eyes out o' sight to say it, matey. Bad habit o' hisn, sir," he continued, turning to me, "but I'm a-trying to break him on it.
I had hardly reached my hiding-place, when I heard one of the men below me say "Here they come," and directly after I could see ascend to the poop-deck, by the light of three lanterns the men carried, a party of about fourteen, one of whom was Jarette, another Nic Walters, and the rest were sailors, with the two rough fellows, Dumlow and Blane, firmly bound with stout line, in their midst.
I could see light now, for something was lifted off me, and I looked out through a framework of shattered woodwork at the bright sunshine. "Now then," said the same voice; "lift him out on to the deck." It was Bob Hampton speaking, and it was Dumlow who spoke next in a low growl. "Poor lad; he's got it bad, arn't he?"
"Nay, sir, we ought to get along with them if we could. I'll just try, I'm quite two sizes smaller than Neb, and I won't be such an old silly as to go and ram myself in fast. Say I may go, sir." "Yes, sir, let him go," said Dumlow. "It'll take some o' the conceit out on him when he gets stuck fast." "Well then, go, Bob, but pray be careful."
"Who said he'd got a hole in him, my lad?" "Why, you did," cried Barney, "and I knowed it without. Didn't I hear you squeak?" "Well, only just then. It was sharp for a moment, but it's better now." "Let me pass you, my man," said the doctor quietly. "There you are, sir. This way. Neb's on the next thwart." "You needn't come to me, sir," protested Dumlow.
It seemed quite natural to me that I should be brought there, though it was unintentional on Jarette's part, for the cabin I was in was that apportioned to Mr Frewen, who was now carried in and laid upon a rug which covered a portion of the floor. "Cheer up, Mr Dale, sir," said Dumlow, bluffly, for he was one of the men who had helped to carry in Mr Frewen. "They won't starve yer.
"They will," I said to myself, with a faint shiver of nervousness coming over me again as I descended the ladder, just as, relieved from duty, Bob Hampton and Neb Dumlow came aft. "In with you," I said, "and eat away. The others coming?" "No, Mr Dale, sir; they've been having their snack along with the cook in the galley, and got it done."
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