I was simply puzzled then; but
afterwards it dawned upon me. No sooner had I followed the Second Mate, than, straightway, Stubbins,
Plummer, and Jaskett came up after us at a run. About half-way to the maintop, the Second Mate stopped, and looked down. "Who's that coming up below you, Jessop?" he asked. Before I could, speak, Stubbins answered:

"It's me, Sir, an' Plummer an' Jaskett." "Who the devil told you to come _now_? Go straight down, the lot of
you!" "We're comin' hup ter keep you company, Sir," was his reply. At that, I was confident of a burst of temper from the Second; and yet,
for the second time within a couple of minutes I was wrong. Instead of
cursing Stubbins, he, after a moment's pause, went on up the rigging,
without another word, and the rest of us followed. We reached the royal,
and made short work of it; indeed, there were sufficient of us to have
eaten it. When we had finished, I noticed that the Second Mate remained
on the yard until we were all in the rigging. Evidently, he had
determined to take a full share of any risk there might be; but I took
care to keep pretty close to him; so as to be on hand if anything
happened; yet we reached the deck again, without anything having
occurred. I have said, without anything having occurred; but I am not
really correct in this; for, as the Second Mate came down over the
crosstrees, he gave a short, abrupt cry. "Anything wrong, Sir?" I asked. "No--o!" he said. "Nothing! I banged my knee." And yet _now_, I believe he was lying. For, that same watch, I was to
hear men giving just such cries; but, God knows, they had reason enough. X


_Hands That Plucked_


Directly we reached the deck, the Second Mate gave the order:

"Mizzen t'gallant clewlines and buntlines," and led the way up on to the
poop. He went and stood by the haulyards, ready to lower away. As I
walked across to the starboard clewline, I saw that the Old Man was on
deck, and as I took hold of the rope, I heard him sing out to the Second
Mate. "Call all hands to shorten sail, Mr. Tulipson." "Very good, Sir," the Second Mate replied. Then he raised his voice:

"Go forrard, you, Jessop, and call all hands to shorten sail. You'd
better give them a call in the bosun's place, as you go." "i, i, Sir," I sung out, and hurried off. As I went, I heard him tell Tammy to go down and call the Mate. Reaching the fo'cas'le, I put my head in through the starboard doorway,
and found some of the men beginning to turn-in. "It's all hands on deck, shorten sail," I sung out. I stepped inside. "Just wot I said," grumbled one of the men. "They don't damn well think we're goin' aloft to-night, after what's
happened?" asked another. "We've been up to the main royal," I answered. "The Second Mate went
with us." "Wot?" said the first man. "Ther Second Mate hisself?" "Yes," I replied. "The whole blooming watch went up." "An' wot 'appened?" he asked. "Nothing," I said. "Nothing at all. We just made a mouthful apiece of
it, and came down again." "All the same," remarked the second man, "I don't fancy goin' upstairs,
after what's happened." "Well," I replied. "It's not a matter of fancy. We've got to get the
sail off her, or there'll be a mess. One of the 'prentices told me the
glass is falling." "Come erlong, boys. We've got ter du it," said one of the older men,
rising from a chest, at this point. "What's it duin' outside, mate?" "Raining," I said. "You'll want your oilskins." I hesitated a moment before going on deck again. From the bunk forrard
among the shadows, I had seemed to hear a faint moan. "Poor beggar!" I thought to myself. Then the old chap who had last spoken, broke in upon my attention. "It's awl right, mate!" he said, rather testily. "Yer needn't wait. We'll be out in er minit." "That's all right. I wasn't thinking about you lot," I replied, and
walked forrard to Jacobs's bunk. Some time before, he had rigged up a
pair of curtains, cut out of an old sack, to keep off the draught. These, some one had drawn, so that I had to pull them aside to see him. He was lying on his back, breathing in a queer, jerky fashion. I could
not see his face, plainly; but it seemed rather pale, in the half-light. "Jacobs," I said. "Jacobs, how do you feel now?" but he made no sign to
show that he had heard me. And so, after a few moments, I drew the
curtains to again, and left him. "What like does 'e seem?" asked one of the fellows, as I went towards
the door. "Bad," I said. "Damn bad! I think the Steward ought to be told to come
and have a look at him. I'll mention it to the Second when I get a
chance." I stepped out on deck, and ran aft again to give them a hand with the
sail. We got it hauled up, and then went forrard to the fore t'gallant. And, a minute later, the other watch were out, and, with the Mate, were
busy at the main. By the time the main was ready for making fast, we had the fore hauled
up, so that now all three t'gallants were in the ropes, and ready for
stowing. Then came the order:

"Up aloft and furl!" "Up with you, lads," the Second Mate said. "Don't let's have any hanging
back this time." Away aft by the main, the men in the Mate's watch seemed to be standing
in a clump by the mast; but it was too dark to see clearly. I heard the
Mate start to curse; then there came a growl, and he shut up. "Be handy, men! be handy!" the Second Mate sung out. At that, Stubbins jumped into the rigging. "Come hon!" he shouted. "We'll have ther bloomin' sail fast, an' down
hon deck again before they're started." Plummer followed; then Jaskett, I, and Quoin who had been called down
off the look-out to give a hand. "That's the style, lads!" the Second sung out, encouragingly. Then he
ran aft to the Mate's crowd. I heard him and the Mate talking to the
men, and presently, when we were going over the foretop, I made out that
they were beginning to get into the rigging. I found out, afterwards, that as soon as the Second Mate had seen them
off the deck, he went up to the mizzen t'gallant, along with the four
'prentices. On our part, we made our way slowly aloft, keeping one hand for
ourselves and the other for the ship, as you can fancy. In this manner
we had gone as far as the crosstrees, at least, Stubbins, who was first,
had; when, all at once, he gave out just another such cry as had the
Second Mate a little earlier, only that in his case he followed it by
turning round and blasting Plummer. "You might have blarsted well sent me flyin' down hon deck," he shouted. "If you bl--dy well think it's a joke, try it hon some one else--"

"It wasn't me!" interrupted Plummer. "I 'aven't touched yer. 'oo the
'ell are yer swearin' at?" "At you--!" I heard him reply; but what more he may have said, was lost
in a loud shout from Plummer. "What's up, Plummer?" I sung out. "For God's sake, you two, don't get
fighting, up aloft!" But a loud, frightened curse was all the answer he gave.