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This attracting the attention of young Gancy, sharp at reading facial expression, as are most men who follow the sea, he asks, after a time, "What is it, father? You and Chips appear to be troubled about something." "Wal, Mister Ed'ard, thar ain't ennythin' rumarkabul in thet, sitiwated ez we air; it's only nateral to be allers expectin' trouble o' some sort.
At length, convinced of this, Captain Gancy calls out, "Boys, it's no use trying to keep her afloat. Drop the pumps, and let us take to the boats." But taking to the boats is neither an easy nor hopeful alternative, seeming little better than that of a drowning man catching at straws. Still, though desperate, it is their only chance, and with not a moment to be wasted in irresolution.
"One of them, the man, was named Eleparu," answers Chester; adding, "The girl called him so, and the boy too." "I didn't hear that name." "No?" says Henry; "then it must have been before you came up." "Yes," answers young Gancy, "for the officer who took them away called the man York, the boy Jemmy, and the girl Fuegia." "That's so. But how did she ever come to be named Fuegia?"
From the information they have gained about the Yapoos, which shows them to be ferocious and treacherous, and hostile to white men, Captain Gancy decides upon running out to seaward through the Murray Narrow a resolve in harmony with the advice given him by his Fuegian host and the trusted Seagriff as well.
Captain Gancy is aware that the late Calypso's carpenter was for a long time a sealer, and in this capacity had spent more than one season in the sounds and channels of Tierra del Fuego. He knows also that the old sailor can be trusted, and so, without pressing for further explanation, he steers straight for the island.
That there should exist such an emotion as joyfulness among them is a fact which greatly astonishes Ned Gancy and young Chester.
"Will the Beagle course be any the safer for that?" "I can't say 'twill, sir," is the answer, in like undertone. "Tho' it won't be any worse. Guess the danger's 'bout equil eytherways." "What danger?" questions young Gancy, who has overheard the ugly word. "O' the gig gettin' bilged, Mister Ed'ard," is the ready, but not truthful, rejoinder.
"What does the woman want?" asks Mrs Gancy, greatly puzzled; all the rest sharing her wonder, save Seagriff, who answers, with a touch of anxiety in his voice, "She wants to barter off her babby, ma'am, for that 'ere scarf." "Oh!" exclaims Leoline, shocked, "surely you don't mean that, Mr Chips." "Sure I do, Miss; neyther more nor less. Thet's jest what the unnateral woman air up to.
Captain Gancy is too busy with his binocular, examining the shores of the sea-arm, while the others, fatigued by their long arduous climb, are seated upon rocks at some distance off, resting. After a time the skipper, re-slinging his glass, makes known the result of his observation, saying, "I can see nothing of the canoes anywhere.
"Ay but afterward?" murmurs Captain Gancy, in a desponding tone, as his eyes turn upon those by the boat. "Wal, sir," says the old sealer, encouragingly, "the arterwards 'll have to take care o' itself. An' now I guess I'd better determine ef thar ain't some way o' helpin' Caesar to a spark o' fire. Don't look like it, but looks are sometimes deceivin'."
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