Tom was at the wheel. He had sent Collins forward. Will and I ran to the forecastle hatch and descended. I found myself in a small, gloomy, wooden cave; a lamp burning with a large, dim, smoky flame swayed at the end of a lanyard under a grimy central beam. Some bunks were built on either hand of this forecastle. The place contained a sea-chest or two left by the sailors, some remains of bedding, a few odds and ends of wearing apparel. Mr. Bates sat upon a chest under the lamp; a bunk-board he had used as a writing-desk stood before him. He held a sheet of foolscap paper. In a bunk immediately abreast lay Nodder. I could not distinguish much of the man. An old blanket partially covered him. His arms, clothed in a sleeve-waistcoat, lay outside the blanket. His colour was sickly, dingy, hideous. His long red hair, like peelings and slicings of carrots, stood harsh and stiff about his brow and coiled wire-like upon the bolster. His wall-eye seemed to be fastened upon me; the other looked straight up. Collins stood near the mate, who, on our descending, exclaimed: ‘I’ll read this confession aloud, that Nodder may hear it’s all right. He’ll then sign, and we four’ll witness.’ Here Nodder turned his head and said: ‘Who’s that female?’ ‘The lady Captain Butler’s to be married to,’ answered Mr. Bates. ‘Didn’t know there was e’er a woman aboard,’ said Nodder, speaking as though his throat was raw with drink. Nothing so harsh, rasping, sawlike, did I ever hear. I got my disgust under and stepped close to the villain. ‘I hope you don’t suffer much?’ I said softly and kindly. ‘I do, then,’ he answered. ‘When there’s hell in the belly and hell in the heart, there’s bound to be suffering. It was all along of that Rotch. Toon up, Mr. Bates, and let’s get the gallus job over.’ I drew back. The having such a face as his near me made me feel sick. Then, again, the atmosphere of his bunk was charged with a smell of spirits, and reminded me of the fumes which rose through the _Childe Harold’s_ skylights that night we left her. Mr. Bates, standing up, read aloud, in a solemn and emphatic manner, as follows:--