the canes in
Java. I cannot guess where we are now--may be off Ushant, may be not so
far, for this sea is too short for the Bay; but the saints send us
sea-room, for we have been wearing these three hours.'

'Twas true enough that we had gone to wearing, as one might tell from the
heavier roll or wallowing when we went round, instead of the plunging of
a tack; but there was no chance of getting at our whereabouts. The only
thing we had to reckon time withal, was the taking off of the hatch twice
a day for food; and even this poor clock kept not the hour too well, for
often there were such gaps and intervals as made our bellies pine, and at
this present we had waited so long that I craved even that filthy broken
meat they fed us with.

So we were glad enough to hear a noise at the hatch just as Elzevir had
done speaking, and the cover was flung off, letting in a splash of salt
water and a little dim and dusky light. But instead of the guard with
their muskets and lanterns and the tubs of broken victuals, there was
only one man, and that the jailer who had padlocked us into gangs at the
beginning of the voyage.

He bent down for a moment over the hatch, holding on to the combing to
steady himself in the sea-way, and flung a key on a chain down into the
orlop, right among us. 'Take it,' he shouted in Dutch, 'and make the most
of it. God helps the brave, and the devil takes the hindmost.'

That said, he stayed not one moment, but turned about quick and was gone.
For an instant none knew what this play portended, and there was the key
lying on the deck, and the hatch left open. Then Elzevir saw what it all
meant, and seized the key. 'John,' cries he, speaking to me in English,
'the ship is foundering, and they are giving us a chance to save our
lives, and not drown like rats in a trap.' With that he tried the key on
the padlock which held our chain, and it fitted so well that in a trice
our gang was free. Off fell the chain clanking on the floor, and nothing
left of our bonds but an iron bracelet clamped round the left wrist. You
may be sure the others were quick enough to make use of the key when they
knew what 'twas, but we waited not to see more, but made for the ladder.

Now Elzevir and I, being used to the sea, were first through the hatchway
above, and oh, the strength and sweet coolness of the sea air, instead of
the warm, fetid reek of the orlop below! There was a good deal of water
sousing about on the main deck