"
Captain Scarrow heard the key turn in the lock as they left the cabin.
Then, as he strained at his bonds, he heard their footsteps pass up the
companion and along the quarter-deck to where the dinghy hung in the
stern. Then, still struggling and writhing, he heard the creak of the
falls and the splash of the boat in the water. In a mad fury he tore
and dragged at his ropes, until at last, with flayed wrists and ankles,
he rolled from the table, sprang over the dead mate, kicked his way
through the closed door, and rushed hatless on to the deck.
"Ahoy! Peterson, Armitage, Wilson!" he screamed. "Cutlasses and
pistols! Clear away the long-boat! Clear away the gig! Sharkey, the
pirate, is in yonder dinghy. Whistle up the larboard watch, bo'sun,
and tumble into the boats, all hands."
Down splashed the long-boat and down splashed the gig, but in an instant
the coxswains and crews were swarming up the falls on to the deck once
more.
"The boats are scuttled!" they cried. "They are leaking like a sieve."
The captain gave a bitter curse. He had been beaten and outwitted at
every point. Above was a cloudless, starlit sky, with neither wind nor
the promise of it. The sails flapped idly in the moonlight. Far away
lay a fishing-smack, with the men clustering over their net.
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