"I will look after him at once, sir," answered Graines, as he leaped upon the cotton bales and made his way to the quarter-deck. On the way he examined the condition of Sopsy, and found him snoring like a roaring lion, in an uneasy position. He turned him over on his side, and then went to the lair of Bokes, who was in the same condition; and he concluded that neither of them would come to his senses for a couple of hours at least. Captain Sullendine had been assisted to a comfortable position when he turned in, and he was sleeping with nothing to disturb him. There was no lock on the door, and Graines could not turn the key. The interior of the cabin was finished in the most primitive manner, for the vessel had not been built to accommodate passengers. The door of the captain's stateroom was made of inch and a half boards, with three battens, and the handle was an old-fashioned bow-latch. There was a heavy bolt on the inside, as though the apartment had been built to enable the master to fortify himself in case of a mutiny. The engineer could not fasten the door with any of the fixtures on it; but it opened inward, as is generally the case on shipboard, and this fact suggested to the ingenious officer the means of securing it even more effectually than it could have been done with a lock and key. In the pantry he found a rolling-pin, which the cook must have left there for some other purpose. This implement he applied to the bow-handle of the fixture on the door. It would not fit the iron loop, but he whittled it down on one side with his pocket-knife till he made it fit exactly in its place with some hard pressure. But shaking the door might cause it to drop out, and he completed the job by lashing it to the handle of the door with a lanyard he had in his pocket. When he had finished his work he was confident the captain could not get out of his room unless he broke down the door, which he lacked the means to accomplish. "West Wind, ahoy!" shouted some one from the stern of the steamer before the engineer had completed his work in the cabin. Christy thought that French's voice was a better imitation of Captain Sullendine's than his own, and he directed him to reply to the hail, telling him what to say. "On board the Tallahatchie!" returned the seaman at the lieutenant's dictation. "Are you all ready?" shouted the same officer. "All ready, sir!" replied French. "Captain Rombold will get under way in five minutes!" called the speaker on the stern of the steamer. "Wait for three short whistles, and then heave up your anchor!" "Understood, and all right," added the spokesman of the West Wind. "Captain Rombold!" exclaimed Christy to himself, as he heard for the first time the name of the commander of the Tallahatchie.