The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson
page 29 of 215 (13%)
page 29 of 215 (13%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
"--accounted for the whole crew. I'm--"
He went up on to the poop. I did not catch the rest. I had loitered a moment; now, however, I hurried after the others. As we neared the fo'cas'le, one bell went, and we roused out the other watch, and told them what jinks we had been up to. "I rec'on 'e must be rocky," one of the men remarked. "Not 'im," said another, "'e's bin 'avin' forty winks on the break, an' dreemed 'is mother-en-lore 'ad come on 'er visit, friendly like." There was some laughter at this suggestion, and I caught myself smiling along with the rest; though I had no reason for sharing their belief, that there was nothing in it all. "Might 'ave been a stowaway, yer know," I heard Quoin, the one who had suggested it before, remark to one of the A.B's named Stubbins--a short, rather surly-looking chap. "Might have been hell!" returned Stubbins. "Stowaways hain't such fools as all that." "I dunno," said the first. "I wish I 'ad arsked the Second what 'e thought about it." "I don't think it was a stowaway, somehow," I said, chipping in. "What would a stowaway want aloft? I guess he'd be trying more for the Steward's pantry." |
|