CHAPTER XIII

I ACCEPT A PROPOSAL


I went on deck with the watch, and mingled with them forward. No one
in authority took any particular notice of me, and I was permitted to
take hold with the others at the various tasks. A Portuguese boatswain
asked me who I was, and later reported my presence to LeVere, who had
charge of the deck, but the only result was my being set at polishing
the gun mounted on the forecastle. The mulatto did not come forward,
and I rejoiced at having my status aboard so easily settled, and being
permitted to remain in the same watch with Watkins.

It was a dull gray morning, the gloominess of the overhanging clouds
reflected in the water. Men on lookout were stationed in the fore-top
and on the heads, yet the sharpest eyes could scarcely see beyond a
half mile in any direction. The sea came at us in great ocean swells,
but the stout bark fought a passage through them, shivering with each
blow, yet driven forward on her course by half-reefed sails, standing
hard as boards in the sweep of the steady gale. Two men struggled at
the wheel, and there were times when LeVere paused in his promenade
from rail to rail to give them a helping hand. His anxiety was
evidenced by his hailing the mast-head every few moments, only to
receive each time the same response. The mist failed to lift, but
seemed to shut us in more closely with every hour, the wind growing
continually more boisterous, but LeVere held on grimly. I was kept at
the guns during the entire time of our watch. Besides the Long Tom
forward, a vicious piece, two swivel guns were on each side,