41 Lure O Gold 1904

XI
visit,
THE BULKHEAD DOOR
r
So one evening, after I had paid the suspected men a
I bade them an impressive good-night and made
rather a noisy exit from the corner where their bunks
were situated. Having reached the middle of the steer
age, I took off my shoes and slipped quietly back to a
place near the pirates
corner where I had seen an empty
berth. Into this I dropped, pulling the bed-clothing
closely up about me, not without
some natural repug
nance, to be sure, although the sheets were evidently
clean enough. With the end of the upper sheet pulled
well over my head, I could lie and peep out toward the
place where Trust and Somers were quartered. I
could hear their voices droning over their interminable
cribbage, and could smell the tobacco smoke as it was
wafted down the steerage.
The rolling motion of the old Modesto had been in
creasing for some hours, and I could hear the waves
thumping hard along her bows. Occasionally there
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