In the Sargasso Sea | Page 4

swarm of passing craft--they made my mind quite easy by actually
pointing her out to me. But almost in the same moment I was startled
again by one of them saying to me: "I don't believe you've much time
to spare, captain. There's a lighter just shoved off from her, and she's
gettin' her tops'ls loose. I guess she means to slide out on this tide. That
tug seems to be headin' for her now."
The men laid to their oars at this, and it was a good thing--or a bad
thing, some people might think--that they did; for had we lost five
minutes on our pull down from the Battery I never should have got
aboard of the Golden Hind at all. As it was, the anchor was a-peak, and
the lines of the tug made fast, by the time that we rounded under her
counter; and the decks were so full of the bustle of starting that it was
only a chance that anybody heard our hail. But somebody did hear it,
and a man--it was the mate, as I found out afterwards--came to the side.
"Hold on, captain," one of the boatmen sang out, "here's your
passenger!"
"Go to hell!" the mate answered, and turned inboard again.
But just then I caught sight of Captain Chilton, coming aft to stand by
the wheel, and called out to him by name. He turned in a hurry--and
with a look of being scared, I fancied--but it seemed to me a good
half-minute before he answered me. In this time the men had shoved
the boat alongside and had made fast to the main-chains; and just then
the tug began to puff and snort, and the towline lifted, and the brig
slowly began to gather way. I could not understand what they were up
to; but the boatmen, who were quick fellows, took the matter into their
own hands, and began to pass in my boxes over the gunwale--the brig

lying very low in the water--as we moved along. This brought the mate
to the side again, with a rattle of curses and orders to stand off. And
then Captain Chilton came along himself--having finished whatever he
had been doing in the way of thinking--and gave matters a more
reasonable turn.
"It's all right, George," he said to the mate. "This gentleman is a friend
of mine who's going out with us" (the mate gave him a queer look at
that), "and he's got here just in time." And then he turned to me and
added: "I'd given you up, Mr. Stetworth, and that's a fact--concluding
that the man I sent to your lodgings hadn't found you. We had to sail
this afternoon, you see, all in a hurry; and the only thing I could do was
to rush a man after you to bring you down. He seems to have
overhauled you in time, even if it was a close call--so all's well."
While he was talking the boatmen were passing aboard my boxes and
bundles, while the brig went ahead slowly; and when they all were
shipped, and I had paid the men, he gave me his hand in a friendly way
and helped me up the side. What to make of it all I could not tell.
Captain Luke told a straight enough story, and the fact that his
messenger had not got to me before I started did not prove that he lied.
Moreover, he went on to say that if I had not got down to the brig he
had meant to leave my fifty dollars with the palm-oil people at Loango,
and that sounded square enough too. At any rate, if he were lying to me
I had no way of proving it against him, and he was entitled to the
benefit of the doubt; and so, when he had finished explaining
matters--which was short work, as he had the brig to look after--I did
not see my way to refusing his suggestion that we should call it all right
and shake hands.
For the next three hours or so--until we were clear of the Hook and had
sea-room and the tug had cast us off--I was left to my own devices:
except that a couple of men were detailed to carry to my state-room
what I needed there, while the rest of my boxes were stowed below.
Indeed, nobody had time to spare me a single word--the captain
standing by the wheel in charge of the brig, and the two mates having
their hands full in driving forward the work of finishing the lading, so

that the hatches might be on and things in some sort of order before the
crew should be needed to make sail.
The decks everywhere were littered with the stuff