Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Foul Play by Charles Reade;Dion Boucicault
page 129 of 602 (21%)
little disheartened and flurried; and the cold, passionless water seized
the advantage. It is possible, too, that the motion of the ship through
the sea aided the leak.

The _Proserpine_ glided through the water all night, like some
terror-stricken creature, and the incessant pumps seemed to be her poor
heart, beating loud with breathless fear.

At daybreak she had gone a hundred and twenty miles. But this was
balanced by a new and alarming feature. The water from the pumps no
longer came up pure, but mixed with what appeared to be blood.

This got redder and redder, and struck terror into the more superstitious
of the crew.

Even Cooper, whose heart was stout, leaned over the bulwarks and eyed the
red stream, gushing into the sea from the lee scuppers, and said aloud,
"Ay, bleed to death, ye bitch! We shan't be long behind ye."

Hazel inquired, and found the ship had a quantity of dye-wood among her
cargo. He told the men this, and tried to keep up their hearts by his
words and his example.

He succeeded with some; but others shook their heads. And by and by, even
while he was working double tides for them as well as for himself,
ominous murmurs met his ear. "Parson aboard!" "Man aboard, with t'other
world in his face!" And there were sinister glances to match.

He told this, with some alarm, to Welch and Cooper. They promised to
stand by him; and Welch told him it was all the mate's doings; he had
DigitalOcean Referral Badge