Then I crept right into the bows, and stood there gazing at the faint lights on board the ship, and trying to think of nothing but the task I had in hand. "I've got it to do," I said to myself, "and I will do it for Miss Denning's and her brother's sake." Then I shivered, but I made a fresh effort to be firm, and said half laughingly--but oh! what a sham it was!--"It's only like going in for a game of hide-and-seek. There'll be no one on deck but Jarette." I stopped short there, for I thought of his pistol and Walters' wound. "Hang his pistol!" I exclaimed mentally, "perhaps it isn't loaded again, and he couldn't hit me in the dark.--But he hit Walters and poor old Neb Dumlow," something within me argued. "Well," I replied to the imaginary arguer, "if my wound when it comes is no worse than poor old Neb's, I shan't much mind." And all the while I could feel that we were moving toward the ship, for though I could not hear a splash aft nor a ripple of the sea against the bows, the boat rolled slightly, so that I had to spread my legs apart to keep my balance. Oh, how dark it was that night! And how thankful I felt! For saving that the lights in the cabin shone out, there was no trace of the ship; nothing ahead but intense blackness, and not a star to be seen. "I can't see it," I thought. "I hope Bob won't run us bump up against the hull, and give the alarm." Then I hugged myself and felt encouraged, for if I could not see the great ship with her towering masts, and rigging, and sails hanging, waiting for the breeze which must succeed the long calm, it was not likely that the keenest-eyed watcher would see our small boat. "But he may hear it coming," I argued. And then. "Not likely, for I can't hear a sound myself." On we went with the round dim light in the ship's side showing a little plainer; but I noticed, as I stood there buttoning up my jacket tightly, that the light appeared a little more to my right, which of course meant that Bob Hampton was steering for the left to where lay the ship's bows. I tried to make out her outlines, but I could see nothing. I could hear, though, for from where I guessed the forecastle to be came a song sung in a very tipsy voice as a man struck up. It sounded dull and half-smothered, but I heard "Moon on the ocean," and "standing toast," and "Lass that loves a sailor." Then there was a chorus badly sung, and I started, for away to the right where the cabin-light was, I heard a sound like an angry ejaculation or an oath muttered in the stillness of the dark night. "Jarette," I said softly. "Hurrah! He won't hear me climb the stay, and I can get on deck safely."