have to swim. I bes in the captain's berth; an' here bes his dispatch
box, high an' dry in his bunk."

Nick made his way aft, through the length of the outer cabin as quickly
as he could, with the water to his chin as he stooped forward in his
efforts toward speed, entered an inner and smaller cabin by a narrow
door and finally swam into the captain's own state-room. He grasped the
edge of the berth in which the skipper crouched.

"Hell! I bes nigh perished entirely wid the cold, skipper!" he cried.

"Then swallow this," said the skipper, leaning down and tilting a bottle
of brandy to the other's lips. "I found it right here in the bunk,
half-empty; aye, an' two more like it, but wid nary a drop in 'em.
There, Nick, that bes enough for ye."

Leary dragged himself up beside the skipper. As the deadlight had been
closed over the port, the state-room was illumined only by a gray
half-gloom from the cabin.

"This bunk bes nigh full o' junk," said Nolan. "The skipper o' this ship
must ha' slept in the lower bunk an' kept his stores here. Here bes
t'ree boxes wid the ship's gold an' papers, I take it; an' a
medicine-chest, by the smell o' it; an' an entire case o' brandy, by
Garge! Sure, Nick, it bes no wonder he got off his course! Take another
suck at the bottle, Nick, an' then get overside wid ye an' pass out
these boxes."

Nick was still deriving warmth from the bottle when a third man entered
the state-room, with just his head and neck above water.