Part 7 (1/2)

”At noon to-morrow I shall come on deck in charge, and the first lieutenant will be relieved, so that he will be at liberty to visit the captain in his cabin. That will be your time, and you must improve it.”

”But I shall meet you again to-morrow, and I will look about me, and see what can be done,” said Mulgrum, as he made a new demonstration at the canvas screen.

”I will keep my eyes open, and you must do the same. How is it with our men forward?” asked the officer.

”I have had no chance to speak with any of them, for they are all the time in the midst of the rest of the seamen,” replied the deaf mute.

”But I have no doubt they are all right.”

”But you must have some way to communicate with them, or they might as well be on sh.o.r.e. As there are six of them, I should say you might get a chance to speak to one of them whenever you desire.”

”I have had nothing to say to them so far, and I have not considered the matter of communicating with them.”

”It is time to know how you can do so.”

”I can manage it in some way when the time comes,” replied Mulgrum confidently. ”I am sure the captain and the first lieutenant have no suspicion that I am not what I seem to be. The executive officer put me through a full examination, especially in regard to Cherryfield, where I told him I used to live. I came off with flying colors, and I am certain that I am all right now.”

Dave knew nothing about the examination to which Mr. Flint had subjected the deaf mute. It is evident that Mulgrum took an entirely different view of the result of the test from that taken by the examiner and the captain; but both of the latter had taken extreme pains to conceal their opinion from the subject of the test.

”I think we had better not say anything more to-night, and you have been on the bridge long enough,” said Mr. Lillyworth, walking to the windward end of the bridge, and peering out into the gloom of the night.

He had hardly looked in the direction of the deaf mute while he was on the bridge, but had busied himself with the las.h.i.+ng of the screen, and done everything he could to make it appear that he was not talking to his companion. Mulgrum, overhauling the screen as he proceeded, made his way to the steps by the side of the foremast. But he did not go down, as he had evidently intended to do, and waited till the second lieutenant came over to the lee side of the vessel.

”Perhaps the man at the wheel has been listening to our conversation,”

said the deaf mute, plainly alarmed at the situation. ”I did not think of him.”

”I did,” replied Mr. Lillyworth; ”but it is all right, and the man at the wheel is Spoors, one of our number.”

”All right,” added Mulgrum, and he descended the steps.

Dave kept his place in the folds of the foresail, and hardly breathed as the scullion pa.s.sed him. With the greatest caution, and after he had satisfied himself that no one was near enough to see him, he descended to the deck. He wandered about for a while, and saw that the supernumerary went to the galley, where, in the scarcity of accommodations for the extra persons on board, he was obliged to sleep on the floor. He was not likely to extend his operations any farther that night, and Dave went to the companion way, descended the steps, and knocked at the door of the captain's cabin.

”Come in,” called the occupant, who had been writing at his desk in the state room, though the door was open.

Dave presented himself before the commander, who was very glad to see him. Christy wiped the perspiration from his forehead, for he had evidently been working very hard all the evening. Four bells had just struck, indicating that it was ten o'clock in the evening. Flint's prediction in regard to the weather seemed to be in the way of fulfilment, for the Bronx had been leaping mildly on a head sea for the last hour. But everything was going well, and the motion of the vessel was as satisfactory to the commander in rough water as it had been in a smooth sea.

”I am glad to see you, Dave,” said Christy, as the steward presented himself at the door of the state room. ”I suppose from your coming to-night that you have something to tell me.”

”Yes, sir; I have; and I will give you the whole Gulf of Mexico if it isn't a big thing,” replied Dave with his most expansive smile. ”You done get into a hornet's nest, Captain Pa.s.sford.”

”Not so bad as that, I hope,” replied Christy, laughing.

”Bad enough, sir, at any rate,” added Dave. ”Pink Mulgrum has been talking and listening to the second lieutenant all the evening.”

”Then he is not a deaf mute, I take it.”

”Not a bit of it; he can talk faster than I can, and he knows all about his grammar and dictionary. You have just eight traitors on board of the Bronx, Captain Pa.s.sford,” said Dave very impressively.

”Only eight?”