gering and stumbling, with the most
vacant expression of face that I could assume, and generally imitating,
as nearly as I could, the gait and appearance of a drunken man, for the
benefit of whosoever might happen to be in a condition to take
intelligent notice of me. Reeling and staggering to the fore-rigging, I
clutched at and hung on to a belaying-pin, and looked about me fore-and-
aft. The deck was occupied by some twenty men or so, some of whom were
asleep in the lee scuppers, while others, in little groups of two and
three, hung over the bulwarks, staring idiotically at the white foam
that swept aft from the schooner's keen cut-water; and four, who had
probably assumed the duty of looking out, staggered and lurched in
pairs, holding each other on their legs, to-and-fro between the windlass
and the fore-rigging, occasionally indulging in an ineffectual attempt
to exchange remarks. So far, all was right; nobody here seemed capable
of giving us the slightest trouble. In fact, discipline was for the
time being at an end, lawlessness reigned supreme, everybody was his own
master, and the schooner was practically left to take care of herself.
Danton, however, was in charge of the deck, and although he was a trifle
unsteady in his walk, I could see that he had his wits pretty well about
him and would have to be somewhat carefully tackled if we wished to
secure him without giving the alarm to Renouf and his brother, both of
whom, I took it, were below. Astern of us, or rather about a point and
a half on our starboard quarter, and some four miles distant, lay the
Spaniard, still hove-to, her brasswork and the glass of her sky-lights
and scuttles flashing redly in the last rays of the setting sun as she
laboured over the ridges of the low swell; and I was both startled and
horrified to observe how deep she had sunk into the water during the
comparatively short time that I had been below. It was clear enough
that if the unhappy people aboard her were to be rescued there was not a
moment to lose; I therefore staggered aft and, approaching Danton with
drunken solemnity, touched my forehead and, wavering upon my legs and
speaking thickly, asked him to come for'ard and down below and tell me
whether he could smell fire. The scoundrel's face blanched at the word,
as he probably pictured to himself the frightful predicament of all
hands--himself included--should my suggestion prove true; then, without
a word, he hastened forw