198 THE BOY CAPTAIN.

Dunham seemed to restore to him a portion of his cour-
age, if, indeed, he ever had any, and he contrived to walk
without assistance when she told him to go into the cap-
tain’s room.

Ben was there overhauling his baggage in the search for
ammunition, and asked, quickly, as Eliphalet entered :

«Where were you when this row began?”

« De ole man was done tucked up in bed, sah.”

«Then you did n’t see any of the trouble?”

“No, sah; but I.done heard plenty. ’Pears dem yeller
debbils went ter slashin’ an’ cuttin’ at a terrifical rate, sah,
like a lot of fool niggers on de rampage.”

“Didn’t you venture to look out when the noise
began?”

“No, sah, dis yere ole darkey knowed too much fur
dat.”

“Then, of course, you can’t give us any information.
Go into Mr. Bean’s room, and see what can be done for
him. I reckon you’ll be of more assistance there than
in the attempt to recapture the brig, although you did
a tidy bit of work when we were fighting the pirates!”

Eliphalet was willing to obey this command. It seemed
to him as if the saloon was much too large for safety at
such a time, and that the smaller his place of refuge the
less the danger.

The first officer had remained in a conscious state
through sheer force of will. But for ‘the perils which
threatened he would have succumbed to the deathly
faintness which assailed him. None knew better than