"No, no--Captain Marble," the men put in, in a body, "we did all that
men could do, to find you."
"I know it! I could swear to it, without a word from one of you. Well,
that's the whole story. We could not find you, and I stuck by the ship
as a matter of course, as there was no choice between that and jumping
overboard; and here has the Lord brought us together again, though we
are every inch of five hundred miles from the place where we parted."
I then took Marble below, and related to him all that had occurred
since the separation. He listened with the deepest interest,
manifesting the strongest sympathy in our success. Nothing but
expressions of gratification escaped him, until I remarked, as I
concluded my account--
"And here is the old ship for you, sir, just as we lost her; and glad
am I to see her once more in so good hands."
"Who put that bloody poop on her, you or the Frenchman, Miles?"
"The Frenchman. Now it is peace, however, it is no great matter; and
the cabin is very convenient for the Major and his daughter."
"It's just like 'em! Spoiling the neatest quarter-deck on the ocean,
with a bloody supernumerary cabin!"
"Well, sir, as you are master now, you can have it all cut away again,
if you think proper."
"I! I cut away anything! I take the command of this ship from the man
who has so fairly won it! If I do, may I be d----d!"
"Captain Marble! You astonish me by this language, sir; but it is
nothing more than a momentary feeling, of which your own good
sense--nay, even your duty to the owners--will cause you to get rid.
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