Dantes from his rocky perch saw the shattered vessel, and among the fragments the floating forms of the hapless
sailors. Then all was dark again.
Half doubled, the man shuffled cautiously away toward the
sailors. The ape moved with him, taking one of his arms.
His Bretons surrounded him; Aramis yielded to their kind exertions, and the three
sailors, lifting him up, carried him to the canoe.
"It is just as well that the boats are scattered, sir," said one of the
sailors. "They are all provisioned, so that they do not need each other on that score, and should a storm blow up they could be of no service to one another even if they were together, but scattered about the ocean there is a much better chance that one at least will be picked up, and then a search will be at once started for the others.
Some
sailors who had been playing at dice had started a quarrel, and were threatening each other furiously.
Two
sailors were washing down the decks of the Fuwalda, the first mate was on duty, and the captain had stopped to speak with John Clayton and Lady Alice.
As soon as the plank was withdrawn the captain took his place at the tiller and made a sign to one of the
sailors, who, boat-hook in hand, began to push out from the labyrinth of boats in which they were involved.
At the upper end of the room, were a couple of boys, one of them very tall and the other very short, both dressed as sailors--or at least as theatrical
sailors, with belts, buckles, pigtails, and pistols complete--fighting what is called in play-bills a terrific combat, with two of those short broad-swords with basket hilts which are commonly used at our minor theatres.
Many of the
sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there, "that he was too big for that!"
And, as John Barleycorn heated his way into my brain, thawing my reticence, melting my modesty, talking through me and with me and as me, my adopted twin brother and alter ego, I, too, raised my voice to show myself a man and an adventurer, and bragged in detail and at length of how I had crossed San Francisco Bay in my open skiff in a roaring southwester when even the schooner
sailors doubted my exploit.
A score of half-drunken
sailors and wharf-rats looked up at the unaccustomed sight of a richly gowned woman in their midst.
"
Sailors are notorious for their unveracity, are they not?" the lady voiced her flat conclusion in the form of a tentative query.