The little mate came down the poop steps and went up to me.
"You better go below, Rolling," said he. "I didn't tell him," he added under his breath, "that you had said you'd mutiny afore I left, or he would probably have done for both you and Chips. He doesn't even know now that Chips was with you, so get into your room and pipe down."
I was so dazed at Trunnell coming back alone I could hardly talk. I looked again over the side to see if there was no mistake. All the men were now aboard, and only the empty craft was there, dancing at the end of her painter. Then I turned and followed the mate below, he stopping just long enough to give orders to hoist in the boat and swing the yards. Jackwell went to the wheel, and away the ship went to the westward, leaving the shadowy thing there on the eastern horizon to mark the end of a fine ship. I stopped a moment to look at the derelict, and the rising moon cast a long line of silver light across the sea.
Out in that shining track, a dark stick rose from the water. That was the last I saw of the Sovereign.
"Where were they?" I asked Trunnell, as we came into the cabin.
"Well," said the little mate, coolly, "since you've worked yourself up so much over the matter, and as we're a-goin' along on our course agin, as I suggested to the skipper afore we raised the wrack"--here he went to the pantry and brought out a bottle, and held it out to me.
"No," I said; "I don't want anything to drink. Tell me what became of the fellows on the wreck. It's my second watch, if I remember right, and I'll be ready to turn out at eight bells."
"Well," said Trunnell, "where they is an' where they is not, stumps me. Where a feller goes when he dies is mostly a matter o' guesswork, so I don't know as I can say eggzackly jest where them fellers is at."
Here he took a long drink, and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. I put my gun in my room, and sat down at the cabin table, where he held the bottle as though undecided whether to take another drink or put it away in the pantry. Rum appeared to be easy of access on the ship, and I knew I could get it any time I wanted it.
"Well, ye see, the way of it ware like this," went on the mate. "I didn't take no stock o' those fellers bein' aboard a ship what had been afire, so when ye went into stays an' swore to do bloody murder an' suddin death to them fellers, I didn't let on to the old man. What's the use? says I. We ain't a-goin' to bring them back noways."
"Weren't they aboard?" I asked.
Trunnell gave me a long, keen look.
"Be ye tellin' o' this yarn, Rolling, or me?" he said.
I asked his pardon for interrupting.
"As I ware a-sayin' afore ye put in your oar, when I hears that ye both had told the truth o' the matter o' the fight, it appeared to me that them fellers couldn't be aboard that wrack. I told the old man so, but he ware fer standin' along after them anyways. Then I ware clean decided that the wrack had done fer them."
"Wasn't there a sign of them aboard?" I asked again.
"There's such a thing as bein' inquisitive," said Trunnell, looking at me with his keen little eyes from under their shaggy brows. "Them men ain't on that wrack--an' I told the skipper so, see?"
He pulled out his sheath-knife, went to the door of the cabin, and flung it clear of the ship's side. Then he came back.
"There's some such thing as justice on ships, when the fellers go too far; but discipline is discipline. The sooner ye get that through yer head, the better. As fer them men with Andrews, they had give up any right to live afore I got there. I told the old man that the chances were agin their bein' found there. I comes back and reports that they ain't there. That's all. Where they is I don't much keer. They is plenty o' sharrucks in this here ocean, and some parts o' them is most likely helpin' them. The rest is mostly in hell, I reckon, but as I says afore, that is a matter o' mostly guesswork."
A dim idea of the horror he had gone through came upon me.
"Good God, Trunnell," I said, "did you do it alone?"
"Well, there ware only one strong one in the lot--but look here, young man, if ye don't turn in pretty soon, ye'll be in trouble agin."
He poured himself out another drink, and put the bottle in the pantry. Then he went on deck, and I turned in to think over the spectacle that must have occurred aboard the blackened derelict. I could see Andrews's hope and the third mate's joy at being rescued. I could even picture them undergoing the wild joy I had just felt myself, when we had sighted the Pirate. Then came that nameless something. Had the men seen it? A rescuer coming aboard with a bloody knife in his belt, and the ship standing away again on her course for the States on the other side of the world!
There would be no explanations, and the blackened wreck, half sunken in the swell, would tell no tales. Trunnell was really a strange character.
"Discipline is discipline," I seemed to hear him saying all my watch below. His step sounded above my head as he walked fore and aft, during his watch; and during the periods of fitful slumber I enjoyed before eight bells struck, I fancied him a great giant whose feet struck with a thunderous sound at every stride. I was almost startled when his great bushy head was thrust into my room door, and he announced loudly that it was the mid-watch, and that I would need a stout jacket to ward off the cold.
XX
For the next three days we went along merrily to the northward, the beginning of the southeast trade behind us, and our skysails drawing full overhead. On the third day Cape Agullas was sighted on our beam. Then, away we went scudding across the South Atlantic Ocean for the equator.
Miss Sackett and her mother came on deck now and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The sufferings they had both gone through had made a deep impression upon them, and they were very quiet. The older woman would sit for hours in a faded dress saved from the wreck of the Sovereign, gazing sadly at the wake sparkling away in the sunshine astern. The bright gleams seemed to light up the memories of her past, and sometimes when I saw her she would have a tear trickling slowly down each cheek. Men as good as Sackett were scarce on deep water.
But the daughter was different. She was sad enough, at times. Being young, however, the loss of her father fell easier upon her. We often found time to chat together during the day watches on deck, and she showed a marked interest in the ship, and the people aboard, talking cheerfully of the future and the probable ending of the voyage. Jenks interested her and likewise Trunnell; but the sturdy mate paid little attention to her, devoting all his time to the affairs of her mother.
Thompson, or Tackwell, still commanded the ship, and Chips and I agreed there was no use in forcing matters with Trunnell against us. We would bide our time and wait for him on making harbor. He was doing well enough now, and since the women had come aboard he had been quieter in his cups, staying below when not sober enough to talk pleasantly. His mustache he curled with more care, and his dress was better than before, otherwise he walked the deck with the same commanding air, and drawled out his orders as usual. He was the most temperate at the very times when I expected him to go off into one of his ugly sarcastic fits, and was evidently trying to carry out the remainder of the voyage without any friction anywhere. This made matters easy for the mates.
During this period of good weather the routine duties of the ship took the place of the fierce excitement of the past. The bright sunshine cheered us greatly, and the spirits of all on board rose accordingly. The day watches were spent in healthy labor on the main deck, bending old sails and sending below the new ones. A ship, unlike a human being, always puts on her old and dirty clothes in fine weather, and bends her new and strong ones for facing foul.