fling of just resentment sobered him completely. He knew, better than

any one on board, how nearly the Good Hope had gone bodily down below

their feet; and he could tell, by the laziness with which she met the

sea, that the peril was by no means over.

Dick, who had been thrown down by the concussion and half drowned, rose

wading to his knees in the swamped well of the stern, and crept to the

old helmsman's side.

"Lawless," he said, "we do all depend on you; y' are a brave, steady man,

indeed, and crafty in the management of ships; I shall put three sure men

to watch upon your safety."

Bootless, my master, bootless," said the steersman, peering forward

through the dark. "We come every moment somewhat clearer of these

sandbanks; with every moment, then, the sea packeth upon us heavier, and

for all these whimperers, they will presently be on their backs. For, my

master, 'tis a right mystery, but true, there never yet was a bad man

that was a good shipman. None but the honest and the bold can endure me

this tossing of a ship."

Nay, Lawless," said Dick, laughing, "that is a right shipman's byword,

and hath no more of sense than the whistle of the wind. But, prithee,

how go we? Do we lie well? Are we in good case?"

"Master Shelton," replied Lawless, "I have been a Grey Friar--I praise

fortune--an archer, a thief, and a shipman. Of all these coats, I had

The Black Arrow