Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 4, 2025
He did not speak, but he seemed to be exerting himself to the utmost to make himself understood. Flint had resumed his seat at the table, facing the door, and in spite of himself, apparently, he began to laugh. "That is Pink Mulgrum, Captain Passford," said he, evidently to prevent his superior from misinterpreting the lightness of his conduct. "As you are aware, he is deaf and dumb."
Christy took his morning meal at a later hour, and when he had finished it, he sent for Pink Mulgrum. Of course the conversation had to be written, and the captain placed the scullion opposite himself at the table. "I learn from Mr. Lillyworth that you are a good writer, and that you are well educated," Christy wrote on a piece of paper, passing it to the deaf mute.
Then he seated himself again opposite the copyist, and fixed his gaze upon him; unfolding the letter, of which he had made a fair copy himself, he placed it under the eyes of the deaf mute. Mulgrum had retained his smile till this moment. He had arranged his paper and taken a pen in his hand. Then he began to read; as he proceeded the smile deserted his face. He was plainly startled.
The latter pretended to be at work, and occasionally the second lieutenant "jawed" at him for his clumsiness in lacing the sailcloth. Between these growls, they spoke together in a low tone, but Dave was near enough to hear what they said. Though he had never heard the voice of Pink Mulgrum before, he knew that of the second lieutenant, and he was in no danger of confounding the two.
He was then dismissed. As he dismissed Mulgrum, Christy tore off the leaf from the tablet on which both of them had written before he handed it back to the owner. For a few moments, he said nothing, and had his attention fixed on the paper in his hand, which he seemed to be studying for some reason of his own.
"Do you know Mulgrum, Dave?" asked the captain. "No, sir; never heard of him before," replied the steward. "You don't know him! The man who has been cleaning the brass work on the doors?" exclaimed Christy. "Oh! Pink, we all call him," said the steward. "His name is Pinkney Mulgrum," Flint explained.
I heard him tell his father that he was to open the envelope in latitude 38," said the supernumerary. "You must contrive some way to hear the captain when he reads his orders," continued the second lieutenant. "He will be likely to have Mr. Flint with him when he opens the envelope." "It will be difficult," replied Mulgrum, and Dave could imagine that he saw him shake his head.
Then Flint began to write on a sheet of paper, and passed his first question to the man. It was: "Don't you remember me?" Mulgrum wrote that he did not. Then the inquisitor asked when he had left Cherryfield to attend the school at Hartford; and the date he gave placed him there at the very time when Flint had been the master of the school for four months.
He had talked over this matter with Flint and Baskirk, and there were three who would be ready to shoot either of them the instant their treachery should be apparent. Before it would be possible to board, a man as intelligent as Mulgrum, who had served as executive officer, could easily disable the engine.
Loading up his tray with dishes, he carried them through the steerage to the galley, where he found Mulgrum engaged in washing those from the ward room, which he had brought out some time before. The steward looked at the deaf mute with more interest than he had regarded him before. He was a supernumerary on board, and any one who had anything to do called Pink to do it.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking