wail upon Lawless to come back and take the
tiller.

Nor did Lawless wait to be twice bidden. The terrible result of his
fling of just resentment sobered him completely. He knew, better than
any one on board, how nearly the _Good Hope_ had gone bodily down below
their feet; and he could tell, by the laziness with which she met the
sea, that the peril was by no means over.

Dick, who had been thrown down by the concussion and half drowned, rose
wading to his knees in the swamped well of the stern, and crept to the
old helmsman's side.

"Lawless," he said, "we do all depend on you; y' are a brave, steady
man, indeed, and crafty in the management of ships; I shall put three
sure men to watch upon your safety."

"Bootless, my master, bootless," said the steersman, peering forward
through the dark. "We come every moment somewhat clearer of these
sandbanks; with every moment, then, the sea packeth upon us heavier, and
for all these whimperers, they will presently be on their backs. For, my
master, 'tis a right mystery, but true, there never yet was a bad man
that was a good shipman. None but the honest and the bold can endure me
this tossing of a ship."

"Nay, Lawless," said Dick, laughing, "that is a right shipman's byword,
and hath no more of sense than the whistle of the wind. But, prithee,
how go we? Do we lie well? Are we in good case?"

"Master Shelton," replied Lawless, "I have been a Grey Friar--I praise
fortune--an archer, a thief, and a shipman. Of all these coats, I had
the best fancy to die in the Grey Friars, as ye may readily conceive,
and the least fancy to die in John Shipman's tarry jacket; and that for
two excellent good reasons: first, that the death might take a man
suddenly; and second, for the horror of that great salt smother and
welter under my foot here"--and Lawless stamped with his foot.
"Howbeit," he went on, "an I die not a sailor's death, and that this
night, I shall owe a tall candle to our Lady."

"Is it so?" asked Dick.

"It is right so," replied the outlaw. "Do ye not feel how heavy and dull
she moves upon the waves? Do ye not hear the water washing in her hold?
She will scarce mind the rudder even now. Bide till she has settled a
bit lower; and she will either go down below your boots like a stone
image, or drive ashore here, under our lee, and come all to pieces like
a twist of string."

"Ye speak with a good courage," returned Dick. "Ye are not then
appalled?"

"Why, master,"