ion, the fact
that the wind was not blowing quite as strongly as it had been during
the earlier part of the watch.

I was beginning to think that the skipper was remaining below rather a
long time, and was drawing the most disquieting conclusions from the
circumstance, when one of the crew--a man whom I recognised as Owen
Lloyd, generally known among his messmates as "Welshy"--came aft and
entered the little house abaft the main hatch, where Bainbridge and I
had our lodging. A few seconds later a small glimmer from the open door
showed that the man was lighting the lamp which illuminated our
snuggery; and a minute or two afterwards Lloyd emerged again and went
forward, while Bainbridge also stepped out on deck and disappeared
beneath the break of the poop. He was gone some three or four minutes,
then reappeared, accompanied by Mr Johnson, the second mate, whom he
had evidently been directed to call, for the pair immediately proceeded
forward at a trot. I decided that the matter was assuming a distinctly
serious aspect. Some five minutes later Bainbridge came aft, and,
ascending to the poop, remarked to me in his usual surly, offhand
manner:

"You're wanted at once in the forecastle, Temple, and I'm to keep the
lookout in your place."

"Right!" I replied. "How are they getting on for'ard? Have they found
the fire yet?"

"Go and look for yourself, sonny, and don't waste valuable time in
stopping to ask silly questions," was the ungracious reply I received;
and I suppose it was the reflection that it served me right for
persisting in my attempts to be civil to the lout that drove out of my
head the thought which had flashed into it for an instant, that it was
rather queer that the skipper should have sent for me at a moment when
Bainbridge was actually on the spot and would serve his purpose quite as
well. So, all unsuspectingly, I trundled away forward, and, flinging my
legs over the coaming of the fore scuttle, dropped down into the
forecastle, noting _en passant_ that a dozen or more of the hands were
still huddling together under the shelter of the topgallant forecastle.
As I was in the very act of swinging myself down off the coaming I
thought I caught the sound of a subdued chuckle emanating from somebody
among this group; but before I had time to give the matter a thought, or
wonder what might be the cause of such ill-timed mirth, my feet reached
the deck of the forecastle, and I found myself the centre