ON DECK 99

I was lifted under the arms, and placed on a floor not
made of metal plates, but evidently the deck of a ship.

Then I was released from the grasp of the two men. I
was free to move, and I instantly tore the cloth from my
head and looked around me.

I was on, board a schooner in full sail, whose track left
a long white streak on the waters.

I had to hold on by one of the back stays to. prevent
myself from falling, for my eyes were dazzled by the
daylight after my forty-eight hours’ imprisonment in utter
darkness.

On the deck rough-looking men were passing to and
fro—men of types so different that I could not assign an
origin to them. They hardly took any notice of me.

At the stern of the vessel, a schooner of three hundred
tons, a man with a swarthy face was atthe helm. His
grasp on the handles of the wheel steadied the ship against
the constant and violent lurches.

I would have liked to read the name of the vessel; it
looked like a sporting yacht. Was it written on the
boards in the stern or on the boards in the bow ?

I advanced towards one of the sailors and asked,—

“ What is the name of this vessel ?”

No answer. I have reason to think the man did not
understand me.

‘Where is the captain ?” I added.

The sailor treated the second question as he had treated
the first. —

I went towards the bows.

H 2