Part 13 (1/2)
”I am afraid that souess you ,” was the unsatisfactory re into the cabin for breakfast they found Doctor Locock resting his head on his hands, with his elbows on the table
”Poor Captain Sibley! He and those with hiiven all I possess to save him A kinder-hearted man never commanded a shi+p His poor wife and children! And the second e, without h to handle the shi+p It will prove a very serious entleale and bad weather continue”
”With our party of six we shall have no difficulty inthe shi+p,” observed Toators; and though we cannot assist in following up the object of the voyage, we shall be able to take her into a port where she can obtain anotherfor Hong-kong, where we are certain to fall in with American merchanthbourhood, I should wish toboats
Notwithstanding what the boatswain says, I am not satisfied that they are lost”
”Do you think it possible that they can have escaped?” asked the surgeon, looking up
”I think it possible, though I dare not say it is probable,” answered To on under the lee of its body, or theyone of the small islands to the eastward The weather has been so thick that they nals”
These rerieved for the loss of his friend the captain, and he was also naturally very anxious about his own fate
”With any other man than Betts I should have less fear; but I know him to be an obstinate, self-opinionated, unprincipled fellow, and very ignorant at the saation there would be less danger; but he knows so about it, and has an idea that he is a first-rate navigator, and fully capable of taking charge of the shi+p”
”Wecarefully, and we may then be able to correct his errors,” said Toruff voice was heard to exclaim, ”What's that you say?”
and the boatswain, who had been standing at the door of the cabin, walked in, casting furious glances at the doctor and the three ation, do you?” exclaimed the man ”I'll soon show you what I know, and as this cabin is ues in your heads, out you shall go and find berths forward”
To that a soft answer turneth arath, replied, ”We have no wish to dispute your authority, Mr Betts, and shall be glad to give you all the assistance in our power If the captain were here, and both the mates had been lost, he would have wished us to take observations and help hiate the shi+p”
”The captain was one ht have liked on't suityou to keep your hands in your pockets until you receive my orders to take them out You understand me?” Desmond, as not soup at the boatswain's i to the boatswain, said, ”Very well, Mr Betts; we understand each other But without boats, even if my people were able to help, you could not attempt to catch any more whales, and you have not even a sufficient number of men to take the shi+p hoet fresh hands If you take ale is over, shape a course for Hong-kong, but before we leave this part of the ocean I would strongly urge you to ent search in all directions for the boats”
”We ht as well look for a needle in a bundle of hay The boats are swamped, I' for e shall never find,” answered the boatswain, as he took the captain's seat at the table
To Desht irritate theaway an aencies The doctor ht say should irritate the boatswain, whom he kneas capable of any act of tyranny
As soon as the meal was over, Toive way to that fellow,” exclai us to take the shi+p round Cape Horn to Boston, and then get the credit of bringing her ho we can do is to clap him in irons and take command ourselves The doctor would side with us, and so would two or three of the shi+p's company, if not all of theator, and would not wish to trust the craft to hi, replied, ”It ht turn out very well if ere first to fall in with a British ht be accused of running aith the shi+p
Rest assured that the boatswain and so which would suit their own purposes”
”I would risk that,” said Desmond ”The doctor's ould be taken before that of the boatswain, and any American officer would at once see that our statement was the true one”
”Suppose ere to fail in our attempt to seize the boatswain, he would murder us all, or at all events clap us in irons, and accuse us of mutiny and an attempt to seize the shi+p”
”Arrah! nohat's come over you, Tom?” exclaimed Des out”I only want to look at both sides of the case, as Archie Gordon would have done if he ith us I fully agree with you, that if the fellow refuses to go to Hong-kong wein us to seize the shi+p unless we are assured of the incapacity of the boatswain, by which her safety and the lives of all on board would be i as you propose”
”And isn't he incompetent?” exclaiator he would not have been serving as boatswain”
”If he will agree to go to Hong-kong or Sydney, or even to the Sandwich Islands, and let us assist hiood, as we can leave her at any of those places, and he can obtain a fresh crew”