ess work, it may
be believed--indeed, I even to this day feel almost out of breath when I
think of it. Leaving Billy at the post he had guarded so well, I ran
back to the companion-hatch, inside of which we could hear the men
working away with most disagreeable vigour.

"Oh dear! oh dear!" exclaimed Grey over and over again. "If we could
but speak French, we could tell the men what we would do if they would
behave themselves."

"But, as we cannot, we must show them what we will do if they don't," I
rejoined. "We must get them on deck somehow or other, for if we keep
them much longer below they will die, I am afraid. It is hot up here--
it must be ten times worse in that close hold."

"I'll tell you, then," he answered. "We must keep our loaded pistols in
our hands, and get up one at a time through the companion-hatchway. If
more than one attempts to come, we must shoot him; there's no help for
it. It will be a long process, but I suppose those who first come will
tell the others how we treat them, and they will be content to wait."

"We must have some water, then, for they will be terribly thirsty," said
I. "And we must have a good supply of lashings ready, to secure them."

We accordingly unrove all the running rigging that could be spared, and
cut it into lengths, and then, leaving Billy Wise as sentry at his
former post, we rolled two water casks over the main hatch, adding a
spare sail and spars, so that there was little danger of its being
forced. We all then collected round the after hatch. We slipped back
the hatch sufficiently far to allow of one man passing through at a
time, then, holding our pistols so that those below might see them, we
beckoned to the Frenchmen to come up. At first, from having discovered
probably the way that Billy Wise had treated their countryman, they were
unwilling to take advantage of our invitation, which was not to be
wondered at. I ordered the men to take care lest they might fire up at
us, for I suspected some treachery.

"Come along, mounseers, come along; we won't hurt ye," said Ned
Bambrick, the best man with us; indeed, there was not a better in the
ship, though certain wild pranks in which he had indulged had prevented
him from becoming a petty officer. "Come along, now, we'll treat ye as
if ye was all sucking babies."

Though the Frenchmen did not understand the words addressed to them, the
tone of his voice somewhat reassured them, and at last one ventur