Well, then, we continued to sit where we were till after dark, discussing the event; presently eight bells went, MacFoy came aft with, “The watch is aft, sir,” to which the mate replied with the usual growl, “All right; relieve the wheel and lookout,” and the starboard watch came on deck. At about 8.15, in the midst of that deep, wonderful silence that pervades a sailing ship at night, we were startled by loud voices up near the main-mast, just where we couldn’t tell, as it was pitch dark; immediately afterward, however, we recognized the voices of Mr. Rarx and Louis, which quickly rose to shouting. The first sentence that we caught was from the second mate, the words coming in jerks, as though he had a man by the neck and was shaking him: “So you were in there tryin’ to steal oil eh? You ---- ---- French ---- ---- ----.” To which Louis answered in a loud voice, “I deed _not_, sair.” Then came another broadside from Rarx, and again, “Etees _not_ so, sair.” At this point several voices broke in, and the old man then ran down the weather poop-ladder to see what was the matter. Suddenly a death-like silence reigned for a few moments; then came a sound of scuffling, and all at once Rarx cried out, “God! He’s stuck me, cap’n!” “What’s that?” yelled the skipper. “The damned French hound’s put a knife into me, sir!” Paralysis instantly fell upon all hands. The tension was fearful, but was relieved somewhat by the steward’s opening the port cabin door, allowing a broad path of light to stream forth into the darkness, which had hitherto rendered the affair mysterious and horrible. It fell upon a group of startled men by the main-mast, with the skipper in the centre supporting the second mate, while the latter, pressing his hands above his left hip, shuffled painfully aft. He was led into the cabin, where he sat down upon the coal-box, and I pulled up his shirt and exposed the wound. It was a wide gash in his side, a little to the front of and just above the pelvis. The blow had evidently been aimed at the groin, but in the darkness Louis had slightly missed. Rarx’s clothes were somewhat blood-soaked, but the flow had ceased, showing that probably none of the large arteries had been punctured. Still, there was more than a probability that he had been dangerously, nay, fatally, hurt, and even at that moment might be bleeding to death internally, and we could not tell whether or no any of the vital organs had been touched. The skipper ran at once for listerine, and together we contrived to bind up the wound and put the man to bed. Then the old man stepped out on the main-deck and shouted,-- “Send that Frenchman aft, Mr. Goggins, and put the irons on him.”