‘I don’t say,’ he exclaimed, ‘that it’s quite impossible; but look here, Marian. Suppose, if only for the sake of argument, I call over the roll of such objections as occur to me.’ ‘Do so.’ ‘I’ll suppose that you are dressed as a boy and that you deceive the eye.’ I nodded. ‘I’ve agreed to sneak you on board, but how am I to do it.’ ‘A little thinking will show us.’ ‘I succeed,’ he continued, ‘in getting you into the fore-peak unobserved. How long are you to be kept below?’ ‘I’ll go on board,’ said I, ‘when the ship is alongside the hulk. I’m your friend, a visitor. You’ll be on the look-out for me. Who’ll notice us? You’ll easily walk me forward under pretence of showing me the ship. Tell me this: Where do you ship your crew?’ ‘At Gravesend.’ ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Yes, I’m sure. The ship’s worked by lumpers and riggers till the convicts are aboard. We then drop down to Gravesend and await the crew, who arrive in a hoy in charge of a crimp. All this I know. You may take my word for it.’ ‘Who occupies the forecastle until the crew come on board?’ ‘Nobody. The lumpers and riggers sleep ashore.’ His eyes brightened, and he cried: ‘I see what you’re driving at! You’ve thought it out pretty closely, Marian! But you’re never in earnest, surely?’ ‘Go on with your objections, dear.’ ‘We’ll suppose you’re safely stowed away in the fore-peak. The convicts come on board. I keep a bright look-out, and find that Butler is not one of them?’ ‘I have considered that,’ said I. ‘You’ll manage to communicate with me. If Tom is not one of the convicts, I must come out of my hiding-place whilst the captain is able to send me ashore. If Tom’s on board, I’ll not want to hear from you till England’s miles astern.’ ‘How am I to communicate with you down in the fore-peak?’ ‘You’ll find out, dear. There are ways. And aren’t you a sailor, Will?’ He laughed, but without much merriment, and said: ‘Suppose I smuggle you into the fore-peak when we’re off Woolwich. We may be a week beating down Channel, and another week before we’ve got far enough to suit you to show yourself. Head winds are head winds at sea. How are you going to feed yourself in the black hole?’ ‘We’ll lay in a stock of provisions,’ said I. ‘Who’s to stow the grub?’ ‘You--by degrees.’ He laughed again and said: ‘How are you going to find where the food is? You’re not to be trusted with a light down there, you know.’ ‘The food must be placed where I can put my hand on it in the dark.’ ‘And before we’ve been twenty-four hours under way the hatch is lifted, and down drops a huge whiskered man called a bo’sun with a lighted lantern right on top of you.’ ‘No hatch can be lifted in such a hurry,’ said I, ‘but that I can find time to hide myself. But pray go on spinning these little cobwebs which you call difficulties.’ ‘I’ve knocked up a regular barricade already,’ said he; ‘something bigger than you’re going to climb, Marian.’