“Muster the crew, Archie, and divide them into two watches,” said Frank. “Send the port watch below, and then go below yourself and try to get a wink of sleep. Our force is so small that we’ll have to stand watch and watch; and as there are only three men able to manage the wheel, you and I will have to take a hand at it now and then. Do you think you can do it?”
Archie was quite sure he could. He was in new business now, but the way he went about the execution of his cousin’s command showed that he had kept his eyes and ears open. He ordered the foremast hands around like any old mate, and they obeyed as promptly and silently as though they had all been trained sailors. The men belonging to the Stranger’s crew hung their heads, and would not look at him, and Archie, on his part, acted as though he did not recognize them.
“Couldn’t you make her go a little faster, captain?” asked Waters, who kept close at Frank’s side all the while. “We’re working for liberty, you know, and we don’t want to waste no time.”
“You’ll go faster presently,” answered Frank. “The breeze is freshening, and she’s got as much on now as she can stand. You must remember that we have only three men to work the topsails, and I don’t want to run any risks. If you will let me manage matters my own way I will get you along just as fast as I can.”
Waters seemed satisfied with this assurance, and never again offered advice. He kept Frank company during his watch, and although the latter at first would have been very glad to be rid of his presence, he finally became interested in his conversation, and after a little urging induced him to tell how it was that he had been able to escape from the island four different times, and who had first put it into his head to seize the Stranger. The sequel proved that Uncle Dick had not been mistaken when he hinted that gold would control the police. Waters and all his companions who were then on board the Stranger had been tried and transported for the same offence. One of them—the convict who was keeping guard over Archie when Frank awoke, and whom he had heard addressed as Bob—was a ticket-of-leave man, who had made considerable money by hauling goods from Melbourne to the Bendigo mines. Instead of taking care of himself he stood by his friends, and it was his gold that had so often released Waters from the chain-gang, and started him on his way to England and America. It was his gold, too, that had made a friend of the consul’s clerk. The latter knew all about the vessels that were preparing to sail, and when the convicts were ready to make an attempt at escape he would select a ship for them, and assist them in getting on board. Three times Waters and his friends had gone aboard as gentlemen, paid their passage, and messed in the cabin; but twice they had been overtaken and carried back by a war vessel, and once the captain of their ship found out, by some means, who they were; secured them all by stratagem and carried them back where they came from. Their last attempt was made on the Sea Gull. Assisted by Fowler, they shipped on board of her before the mast, and would in all probability have succeeded in reaching their destination, had it not been for the gale which wrecked their vessel, and threw Waters and his three friends into the company of the Stranger’s crew.