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Updated: June 3, 2025
Bill, and Jim, and Joe are all missin'; ain't to be found nowheres. Anyhow, they ain't in the fo'c's'le; I'm ready to swear to that!" answered one of the little crowd that grouped themselves round the binnacle, their eyes gleaming in the dim light of the binnacle lamp with that transient horror that sailors feel at the sudden loss of a shipmate.
I had better tell you, however, what occurred, and then you will be able to judge for yourself. Away forward, I remember, the ship's bell under the break of the forecastle, or "fo'c's'le," as it is pronounced in nautical fashion, was just striking "two bells" in the first day watch.
An' they're feelin' diff'runt about you, sir, since you saved me. Not becoz it was me, but becoz it was what Deming calls a damn plucky thing to do." "How did you learn all this?" demanded Rainey. "Scraps, sir. Here an' there. The sailors gams about it nights when they thinks I'm asleep in the fo'c's'le. An' I keeps my ears open when I waits on the hunters.
We could see for miles each side of us, but never a trace of a boat was visible, and it was impossible that any swimmer could have escaped the merciless scrutiny to which we subjected the waters of the bay in every direction. Hardenberg and I dived down into the fo'c's'le. Ally Bazan was sound asleep in his bunk and woke stammering, blinking and bewildered by the lantern we carried.
"Steady amidship, there," sang out the skipper as the old barquey forged ahead once more. "Steady, my man." "Aye, aye, sir," answered the foremost hand, Parrell, who had come from the fo'c's'le to take the first "trick" at the steering wheel on the bridge. "Steady it is." "How does the boat bear now, Haldane?" "Two points off our starboard bow, sir," I replied to this hail of the skipper.
Don't you know what he used to say about dying? It's Jem Dadd come back to us. Jem Dadd got another man's body, as he always said he would." "Rot!" said Roberts, trying to speak bravely, but he got up, and, with the others, huddled together at the end of the fo'c's'le, and stared in a bewildered fashion at the sodden face and short, squat figure of our visitor.
He ducked lower behind his box and presently heard steps descending the ladder. A guarded observation taken from a dark corner close to the floor disclosed the slouching form of Daggs standing by the table. The buccaneer took a long time for his cautious survey of the fo'c's'le. Standing perfectly still he turned his body from the hips and gave the place a silent scrutiny before he set to work.
"There!" replied the young officer, pointing to the ledge outside the bulkhead, just over the iron ladder-way that led down to the fo'c's'le, the scene of the accident. "He cannot well have fallen overboard from there!" "No," assented the Captain, doubtfully; still at a loss to account for Bob's mysterious disappearance. "Where can the boy be, though?"
"Aye, aye, sir," I cried, making my way along the gangway by the side of the deckhouse towards the fo'c's'le, which was still lit up by the afterglow as if on fire. "I'll see to it all right, and get our steam lights rigged up at once, sir."
"You'll go aft at once, Mr Matthews," he said, waving him away with his outstretched arm. "Another such dereliction from duty and you shall come forrud altogether, as you appear to like the fo'c's'le so well. I have made you third officer; but bear in mind that if I possess the power to make, I can break too!"
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