"The Indians
have run a line to the island, and are about to cut the cables, no
doubt intending to warp the ship ashore; and that, too, at the very
spot where they once had the Sea-Otter."
"Ay, ay--let them go on; we'll be ready for them in time," was the
only answer I received.
I never knew whether to ascribe the apathy the savages manifested to
this communication, to a wish that the fact might be known to the
people below, or to indifference. They certainly proceeded in their
movements with just as much coolness as if they had the ship all to
themselves. They had six or eight canoes, and parties of them began
to move round the vessel, with precisely the same confidence as men
would do it in a friendly port. What most surprised me were the quiet
and submission to orders they observed. At length the axe was found
secreted in the bows of the launch, and Marble was apprised of the use
to which it was immediately applied, by the heavy blows that fell upon
the cables.
"Miles," said the chief-mate--"these blows go to my heart! Are the
blackguards really in earnest?"
"The larboard bower is gone, sir, and the blows you now hear are on
the starboard, which is already half in two--that finishes it; the
ship now hangs only by the warp."
"Is there any wind, boy?"
"Not a breath of it in the bay, though I can see a little ripple on
the water, outside.
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