So much, then, was accomplished. The sham wreck had
passed muster; they were clear of her, they were safe
away; and the water widened between them and her
damning evidences. On the other hand, they were
drawing nearer to the ship of war, which might very
well prove to be their prison and a hangman's cart to
bear them to the gallows of which they had not yet
learned either whence she came or whither she was
bound; and the doubt weighed upon their heart like
mountains.
It was Wicks who did the talking. The sound was small
in Carthew's ears, like the voices of men miles away,
but the meaning of each word struck home to him like a
bullet. "What did you say your ship was?" inquired
Wicks.
"TEMPEST, don't you know?" returned the officer.
"'Don't you know?' What could that mean? Perhaps
nothing: perhaps that the ships had met already. Wicks
took his courage in both hands. "Where is she bound?"
he asked.
"O, we're just looking in at all these miserable
islands here," said the officer. "Then we bear up for
San Francisco."
"O yes, you're from China ways, like us?" pursued
Wicks.
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