I don't like the looks" (here he dropped his voice to a
portentous whisper) "of these black gentry; they have such a wonderful
thievish way about them. Supposing now that some of them were to slip
into the boat at night and cut the cable, and make off with her? That
would be a pretty go, that would."
The whale-boat, I may explain, was one specially built for us at Dundee,
in Scotland. We had brought it with us, as we knew that this coast was a
network of creeks, and that we might require something to navigate
them with. She was a beautiful boat, thirty-feet in length, with a
centre-board for sailing, copper-bottomed to keep the worm out of her,
and full of water-tight compartments. The Captain of the dhow had told
us that when we reached the rock, which he knew, and which appeared to
be identical with the one described upon the sherd and by Leo's father,
he would probably not be able to run up to it on account of the shallows
and breakers. Therefore we had employed three hours that very morning,
whilst we were totally becalmed, the wind having dropped at sunrise,
in transferring most of our goods and chattels to the whale-boat,
and placing the guns, ammunition, and preserved provisions in the
water-tight lockers specially prepared for them, so that when we did
sight the fabled rock we should have nothing to do but step into the
boat, and run her ashore.
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