Old Gold Part 12

"c.o.c.k-and-bull?" stuttered the mate, scratching his head.

"Yes, c.o.c.k-and-bull," roared the captain. "Can't you see he's there, all alive, oh! in that canoe? Here, you, Tom Jinks, lay hold of this rope, and don't stand making faces there like a jibbering idiot. Catch hold."

"No, no," faltered the great sailor; "it's his--"

"Catch hold!" roared the captain; "if any man here says ghost to me, law or no law, I'll rope's-end him."

The big sailor's hands trembled as he took the rope, but before he had given it a pull one occupant of the canoe came scrambling on board with the other end of the rope in his hand, while the canoe, now lightened of half its load, glided astern, with the black paddling hard.

"There's going to be a row," whispered Brace merrily to his brother, as they stood there, feeling as though a great weight had been removed from their b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He was quite right, for before the supposed drowned man had taken a couple of steps the captain was at him.

"Here, you, sir," he roared, "do you want to have sunstroke? Where's your hat?"

"I dunno," was the reply.

"Here," shouted the captain, who was in a towering pa.s.sion, "where's that Tom Jinks?"

"Here he is, sir; here he is, sir," cried half a dozen voices, and the men opened out to give him a full view of the trembling sailor.

"Now, sir, what call had you to tell us that you had brought Mr Lynton aboard last night?"

"So we did--didn't we, mate?"

This to another of the sailors, who was staring hard at the new-comer.

"Oh, yes, we fetched him off in the little boat," said the man addressed.

"No, you didn't," said the second mate sourly.

"Well!" exclaimed Tom Jinks, who began to see now that it was real flesh and blood before him. "Why, we did, and you was--well, I ain't going to say what. Wasn't he, mate?"

"Oh, yes, that's a true word," said the other man.

"You don't know what you're talking about," said the second mate indignantly; "and if either of you says that I was on I'll knock you down."

"No, you won't, James Lynton," said the captain warmly. "You don't handle either of my men. Look here, did you come aboard last night in the boat?"

"No, of course not."

"Then who did?" cried the captain. "The men must have brought somebody."

"Oh, yes," said Tom Jinks, "we brought him aboard."

"I say you didn't," cried Lynton. "I went to sleep, I s'pose, after dinner, and I didn't wake up again till this morning."

"Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself, James Lynton," said the captain indignantly.

"I _ham_," cried the second mate boldly: "right down, and no mistake."

"A warning to you not to go out eating and drinking more than is good for you," said the captain.

"I didn't," replied the mate. "I took just what was good for me, and no more."

"It seems like it," said the captain sarcastically. "Instead of coming aboard in your own s.h.i.+p's boat according to the terms of your leave, you come back in a dug-out after your vessel's sailed, and without a hat."

"Yes, I know," said the mate testily; "but didn't I tell you I felt ashamed of myself? Eh? what say?"

"Is this here yours?" said the first mate, who had suddenly gone below to the cabin, and returned with a straw hat in his hand.

"Yes, that's mine. How did you get it?"

"You came aboard in it last night."

"I didn't," cried the second mate, who looked staggered.

"Oh, yes, you did, sir," cried Tom Jinks. "Didn't he, mate?"

"That's so," said the man addressed.

"But I tell you I didn't. I went to sleep after dinner, and didn't wake till this morning, and found the brig had sailed."

"Of course she had--to her time," said the captain angrily. "He don't know what he's talking about, gentlemen," he continued, turning to the brothers. "I'm very sorry, but I'm not going to have any more time wasted. Now then, my lads, capstan bars, and bring that anchor up with a run. You, James Lynton," he went on, as the men ran to obey their orders, "I'm ashamed of your goings-on. What have you been about?

Walking in your sleep, I suppose."

"I dunno," said the second mate, scratching one ear. "I can only recollect Mr Franklyn Briscoe saying--"

"Mr Who?" roared the captain.

"That American gentleman who wanted to come with us."

"You don't mean to say you've been with that inquisitive chap, do you, sir?"

"Yes. What harm was there in that?"

"What harm? Look at you this morning."

"Oh, well, I don't know how it was," said the mate.

"Then I'll tell you how it was, sir. It was my second officer making an excuse to go ash.o.r.e, and getting into bad company. But never no more, James Lynton: never no more. You don't deceive me twice like this."

"It was all an accident," grumbled the delinquent.

"Yes, of course, and a nice state we were in, believing that after you came aboard you fell over the side and were drowned."

"You didn't think that, did you?" cried Lynton.

"Didn't think it? Why, of course we did, sir. Didn't I come to an anchor as soon as I found you were not aboard?"

"I don't know," said Lynton, looking from one to the other.