Then
straightway, he began to shout at the top of his voice, and in the lulls
of his noise, I caught the voice of Stubbins, cursing savagely. "They'll come down with a run!" I shouted, helplessly. "They'll come
down as sure as nuts." I caught Jaskett by the boot. "What are they doing? What are they doing?" I sung out. "Can't you see?" I shook his leg as I spoke. But at my touch, the old idiot--as I thought
him at the moment--began to shout in a frightened voice:

"Oh! oh! help! hel--!" "Shut up!" I bellowed. "Shut up, you old fool. If you won't do anything,
let me get past you." Yet he only cried out the more. And then, abruptly, I caught the sound
of a frightened clamour of men's voices, away down somewhere about the
maintop--curses, cries of fear, even shrieks, and above it all, someone
shouting to go down on deck:

"Get down! get down! down! down! Blarst--" The rest was drowned in a
fresh outburst of hoarse crying in the night. I tried to get past old Jaskett; but he was clinging to the rigging,
sprawled on to it, is the best way to describe his attitude, so much of
it as I could see in the darkness. Up above him, Stubbins and Plummer
still shouted and cursed, and the shrouds quivered and shook, as though
the two were fighting desperately. Stubbins seemed to be shouting something definite; but whatever it was,
I could not catch. At my helplessness, I grew angry, and shook and prodded Jaskett, to make
him move. "Damn you, Jaskett!" I roared. "Damn you for a funky old fool! Let me
get past! Let me get past, will you!" But, instead of letting me pass, I found that he was beginning to make
his way down. At that, I caught him by the slack of his trousers, near
the stern, with my right hand, and with the other, I got hold of the
after shroud somewhere above his left hip; by these means, I fairly
hoisted myself up on to the old fellow's back. Then, with my right, I
could reach to the forrard shroud, over his right shoulder, and having
got a grip, I shifted my left to a level with it; at the same moment, I
was able to get my foot on to the splice of a ratline and so give myself
a further lift. Then I paused an instant, and glanced up. "Stubbins! Stubbins!" I shouted. "Plummer! Plummer!" And even as I called, Plummer's foot--reaching down through the gloom--
alighted full on my upturned face. I let go from the rigging with my
right hand, and struck furiously at his leg, cursing him for his
clumsiness. He lifted his foot, and in the same instant a sentence from
Stubbins floated down to me, with a strange distinctness:

"_For God's sake tell 'em to get down hon deck!_" he was shouting. Even as the words came to me, something in the darkness gripped my
waist. I made a desperate clutch at the rigging with my disengaged right
hand, and it was well for me that I secured the hold so quickly, for the
same instant, I was wrenched at with a brutal ferocity that appalled me. I said nothing, but lashed out into the night with my left foot. It is
queer, but I cannot say with certainty that I struck anything; I was too
downright desperate with funk, to be sure; and yet it seemed to me that
my foot encountered something soft, that gave under the blow. It may
have been nothing more than an imagined sensation; yet I am inclined to
think otherwise; for, instantly, the hold about my waist was released;
and I commenced to scramble down, clutching the shrouds pretty
desperately. I have only a very uncertain remembrance of that which followed. Whether
I slid over Jaskett, or whether he gave way to me, I cannot tell. I know
only that I reached the deck, in a blind whirl of fear and excitement,
and the next thing I remember, I was among a crowd of shouting, half-mad
sailor-men. XI


_The Search for Stubbins_

In a confused way, I was conscious that the Skipper and the Mates were
down among us, trying to get us into some state of calmness. Eventually
they succeeded, and we were told to go aft to the Saloon door, which we
did in a body. Here, the Skipper himself served out a large tot of rum
to each of us. Then, at his orders, the Second Mate called the roll. He called over the Mate's watch first, and everyone answered. Then he
came to ours, and he must have been much agitated; for the first name he
sung out was Jock's. Among us there came a moment of dead silence, and I noticed the wail and
moan of the wind aloft, and the flap, flap of the three unfurled
t'gallan's'ls. The Second Mate called the next name, hurriedly:

"Jaskett," he sung out. "Sir," Jaskett answered. "Quoin." "Yes, Sir." "Jessop." "Sir," I replied. "Stubbins." There was no answer. "Stubbins," again called the Second Mate. Again there was no reply. "Is Stubbins here?--anyone!" The Second's voice sounded sharp and
anxious. There was a moment's pause. Then one of the men spoke:

"He's not here, Sir." "Who saw him last?" the Second asked. Plummer stepped forward into the light that streamed through the Saloon
doorway. He had on neither coat nor cap, and his shirt seemed to be
hanging about him in tatters. "It were me, Sir," he said. The Old Man, who was standing next to the Second Mate, took a pace
towards him, and stopped and stared; but it was the Second who spoke. "Where?" he asked. "'e were just above me, in ther crosstrees, when, when--" the man broke
off short. "Yes! yes!" the Second Mate replied. Then he turned to the Skipper. "Someone will have to go up, Sir, and see--" He hesitated. "But--" said the Old Man, and stopped. The Second Mate cut in. "I shall go up, for one, Sir," he said, quietly. Then he turned back to the crowd of us. "Tammy," he sung out. "Get a couple of lamps out of the lamp-locker." "i, i, Sir," Tammy replied, and ran off. "Now," said the Second Mate, addressing us. "I want a couple of men to
jump aloft along with me and take a look for Stubbins." Not a man replied. I would have liked to step out and offer; but the
memory of that horrible clutch was with me, and for the life of me, I
could not summon up the courage. "Come! come, men!" he said. "We can't leave him up there. We shall take
lanterns. Who'll come now?" I walked out to the front. I was in a horrible funk; but, for very
shame, I could not stand back any longer. "I'll come with you, Sir," I said, not very loud, and feeling fairly
twisted up with nervousness. "That's more the tune, Jessop!" he replied, in a tone that made me glad
I had stood out. At this point, Tammy came up, with the lights. He brought them to the
Second, who took one, and told him to give the other to me. The Second
Mate held his light above his head, and looked round at the hesitating
men. "Now, men!" he sung out. "You're not going to let Jessop and me go up
alone. Come along, another one or two of you! Don't act like a damned
lot of cowards!" Quoin stood out, and spoke for the crowd. "I dunno as we're actin' like cowyards, Sir; but just look at _'im_,"
and he pointed at Plummer, who still stood full in the light from the
Saloon doorway.