“Now, then,” said the latter, breathing a sigh of relief, “I think he’ll be surprised when he wakes.”
The shipkeeper had hardly concluded, when he heard footsteps descending the companion-way, and peering through the hatch, he saw the steward just as that worthy--still pale and bloody from the effects of the wounds he had received--gained the bottom of the short staircase.
With a low cry of exultation, Stump pulled himself quickly out of the run, and, rushing upon the startled Portuguese, caught him by the throat, at the same time presenting his pistol at his head.
“No noise, you miserable sneak, or down you go, a dead porpoise sure enough. Just hand over the key that unlocks Miss Howard’s room, together with the one that belongs to Marline’s handcuffs!”
“I--I--de--de---- You no kill me!” stammered the steward, nearly frightened out of his wits.
“The keys--the keys!” muttered Stump, shaking him violently; “it’s the keys I want--d’ye hear?”
“I--I--give you ’em quick,” gasped Joseph, while his eyes fairly rolled in his head with terror.
“Here--here,” he added, pulling the required instruments from his pocket--“here dey be, and now you no kill me!”
In order to receive the keys, the shipkeeper let go of the steward’s throat, and his joy was so great when the articles were in his hands, that for a moment, while contemplating them, he almost forgot the presence of the mutineer.
The latter was not slow to take advantage of this circumstance. He bounded up the companion-way, and disappeared, before Stump could lift his pistol.
“Ay, ay--the rascal’s gone, sure enough!” cried the shipkeeper, in a tone of mortification, “and it’s l’arned me a lesson, which is, that them that doesn’t keep their eyes squinted both ways, or that allows their pleasures to turn ’em aside from their duties, is bound to suffer for it in the end.”
“Never mind,” said Marline, who had risen, and was looking through the open hatchway; “but, come quick and unlock these handcuffs. That fellow, I can even hear now giving the alarm on deck, and the sooner my arms are at liberty, the better will it be for us both!”
“There’s plenty of truth in that,” replied the shipkeeper, as he now set himself to work to unfasten the irons from his friend’s wrists, “plenty of truth in that, and--”