‘You’ll find that pilot coat melting wear a few degrees further south,’ said he. ‘Here’s a serge jacket. Will it fit you?’ I put it on, then rolled the clothes into a bundle and stayed to talk. ‘Will, does anyone on board suspect I’m a woman?’ ‘I don’t know of any one,’ he answered; ‘what’s put that into your head?’ ‘Nothing. I don’t want to be found out. Depend upon it, if the doctor and the others discovered that I was a girl, they’d suspect me of some desperate purpose and send me out of the ship at the first chance.’ ‘That’s likely,’ said Will, cutting up a piece of tobacco to fill his pipe with; ‘but who’d imagine you’re a girl? You walk like a man and begin to roll about like a sailor. You lug your basket of foul dishes forward in true bottle-washer fashion.’ ‘Not so loud,’ said I, looking toward the door. ‘I’ve heard nothing about you for’ard,’ he continued. ‘They occasionally talk of you aft. I catch scraps of speech as the skipper and the others stump the poop. I heard that fellow, Captain Barrett, say that he notices you take a great interest in all talk at table that concerns the convicts. I’d wear a deaf face in the cuddy, if I were you.’ ‘I’ll do so. That Captain Barrett’s right. The hint won’t be lost, I assure you,’ said I, looking at myself in a square of glass and observing by the strong red light that my complexion had been something darkened already by my frequent exposure on deck, though it was still too soft and delicate a skin to please me. ‘But,’ said I, speaking low, ‘I shan’t greatly heed any suspicions that don’t touch my sex.’ ‘Have you seen anything more of Butler?’ he asked, also speaking low. I shook my head with a sigh, and, pulling the letter from my pocket, told him how long it had been written, and that I had found no chance of delivering it. ‘Now mind how you attempt to deliver it!’ he exclaimed. ‘If the sentry sees you giving it to him, say good-night to your projects, for they’ll find out you’re a woman, and lock you up for examination and punishment on your arrival. They’re hideously in earnest in these ships. And take care that you don’t get Tom flogged.’ This talk frightened and angered me too. I took several turns up and down the little berth, whilst he smoked and watched me, and then said: ‘I must risk it. Tom shall get this letter, and then I’ll be satisfied.’ ‘If the third mate could be trusted,’ said he, ‘it might be contrived without risk. He serves out stores to the convicts, and Butler’s one of the gang who fetches the stuff. I heard the third mate tell Mr. Bates that. Bates takes a good deal of interest in Butler. It was only yesterday he was talking to the captain, and I heard him say he considered Butler an injured man.’ ‘“Injured!”’ I cried, scornful of that meek word. ‘But the third mate mustn’t be trusted, so there’s an end.’ I looked at Will steadily, and said in a soft voice: ‘Isn’t Tom to be freed?’ ‘“Freed?”’ he echoed. ‘Got out of the ship?’ ‘How?’