"For doing a kind act? For saving my poor mother from trouble and anxiety?"
"For not doing my dooty, my lad. There, a voyage or two won"t hurt you.
Why, I was a pressed man, and look at me."
"Main-top ahoy! Are you coming down?" came from below.
"Ay, ay, sir!" shouted the sailor.
"Wasn"t that the man who had us shut up here?" cried Don.
"To be sure: Bosun Jones," said the man, running to the trap and beginning to descend.
"You"ll take my message?"
"Nay, not I," said the man, shaking his head. "There, eat your breakfuss, and keep your head to the wind, my lads."
_Bang_!
The door was shut heavily and the rusty bolt shot. Then the two prisoners listened to the descending footsteps and to the murmur of voices from below, after which Don looked across the steaming jug at Jem, and Jem returned the stare.
"Mornin", Mas" Don," he said. "Rum game, arn"t it?"
"Do you think he"ll take my message, Jem?"
"Not a bit on it, sir. You may take your oath o" that."
"Will they take us aboard ship?"
"Yes, sir, and make sailors on us, and your uncle"s yard "ll go to rack and ruin; and there was two screws out o" one o" the shutter hinges as I were going to put in to-day."
"Jem, we must escape them."
"All right, Mas" Don, sir. "Arter breakfast."
"Breakfast? Who is to eat breakfast?"
"I am, sir. Feels as if it would do me good."
"But we must escape, Jem--escape."
"Yes, sir; that"s right," said Jem, taking off the cup, and sniffing at the jug. "Coffee, sir. Got pretty well knocked about last night, and I"m as sore this morning as if they"d been rolling casks all over me.
But a man must eat."
"Eat then, and drink then, for goodness" sake," cried Don impatiently.
"Thankye, sir," said Jem; and he poured out a cup of steaming coffee, sipped it, sipped again, took three or four mouthfuls of bread and b.u.t.ter, and then drained the cup.
"Mas" Don!" he cried, "it"s lovely. Do have a cup. Make you see clear."
As he spoke he refilled the mug and handed it to Don, who took it mechanically, and placed it to his lips, one drop suggesting another till he had finished the cup.
"Now a bit o" bread and b.u.t.ter, Mas" Don?"
Don shook his head, but took the top piece, and began mechanically to eat, while Jem partook of another cup, there being a liberal allowance of some three pints.
"That"s the way, sir. Wonderful what a difference breakfuss makes in a man. Eat away, sir; and if they don"t look out we"ll give them press-gang."
"Yes, but how, Jem? How?"
"Lots o" ways, sir. We"ll get away, for one thing, or fasten that there trap-door down; and then they"ll be the prisoners, not us. "Nother cup, sir? Go on with the bread and b.u.t.ter. I say, sir, do I look lively?"
"Lively?"
"I mean much knocked about? My face feels as if the skin was too tight, and as if I couldn"t get on my hat."
"It does not matter, Jem," said Don, quietly. "You have no hat."
"More I haven"t. I remember feeling it come off, and it wasn"t half wore out. Have some more coffee, Mas" Don. "Tarnt so good as my Sally makes. I"d forgot all about her just then. Wonder whether she"s eating her breakfast?"
Don sighed and went on eating. He was horribly low-spirited, but his youthful appet.i.te once started, he felt the need of food, and kept on in silence, pa.s.sing and receiving the cup till all was gone.
"That job"s done," said Jem, placing the jug on the plate, and the cup in the mouth of the jug. "Now then, I"m ready, Mas" Don. You said escape, didn"t you, sir?"
"Yes. What shall we do?"
"Well, we can"t go down that way, sir, because the trap-door"s bolted."
"There is the window, Jem."
"Skylights, you mean, sir," said Jem, looking up at the sloping panes in the roof. "Well, let"s have a look. Will you get a-top o" my shoulders, or shall I get a-top o" yourn?"
"I couldn"t bear you, Jem."
"Then up you gets, my lad, like the tumblers do at the fair."
It seemed easy enough to get up and stand on the st.u.r.dy fellow"s shoulders, but upon putting it to the test, Don found it very hard, and after a couple of failures he gave up, and they stood together looking up at the sloping window, which was far beyond their reach.
"Dessay it"s fastened, so that we couldn"t open it," said Jem.
"The fox said the grapes were sour when he could not get at them, Jem."
"That"s true, Mas" Don. Well, how are we to get up?"
They looked round the loft, but, with the exception of the old sacking lying at one end, the place was bare.
"Here, come to the end, Jem, and let me have another try," said Don.
"Right, sir; come on," cried Jem; and going right to the end of the loft, he bent his body a little and leaned his hands against the wall.