Tom found out that by going down the companion-steps and taking a view of the interior. The hour was then about a quarter to twelve. About half a score of the felons were still awake, but drinking always. They were too drunk to make much noise, and happily too overtaken in liquor to be able to light their pipes. The heat was killing, Tom said. He should not be surprised if several of the people were found dead. ‘Bates,’ said he, ‘get you now down with Will and overhaul the slop-chest and bring up what you know is needful. They’ll take no notice of you in the cuddy. They’re nearly blind drunk; they’re at the aftermost end where Abram was, and the atmosphere’s black with tobacco, and the cabin lights burn pale. Johnstone, I don’t want Marian to leave my side. Here’s the key of my cabin-door. Bring up the clothes.’ Bates and my cousin went away. Tom now said he would go the round of the ship. ‘We must see all the lights out before we leave her,’ said he. ‘Think of a fire with the people in the state they’re in!’ He walked to the lifeless figures on the poop and moved them with his foot; they lay as senseless as the plank they rested on. He then passed down the steps and I lost sight of him. I guessed that the convicts had been too drunk to climb the poop-ladder, or to attempt the poop by the companion-steps; that was why there was none on this deck save those two or three of Barney Abram’s party who had stumbled, and, being down, had instantly slept. I looked into that part of the night where the brig lay and dimly discerned her. I forget where the moon at this hour stood, and with what bulk she had risen. Silence was gathering on the convict ship. Occasionally the hoarse, tipsy call of a man in the cuddy vexed the ear, but those noises were rare, and I was pretty sure that another quarter of an hour would do the wretches’ business and sink them in the universal stupor. I wondered if the moon had ever before shone down upon a more shocking picture of human bestiality. And yet how exquisitely was the ship painted by the night beam in the midst of that vast ocean hush! The sails hung like sheets of cloth of silver; every shroud had a glint that resembled a thread of silver wire; stars of white fire sparkled in the brass of the binnacle hood and in the glass of the skylights, and the rail seemed encrusted with diamonds and precious gems. The whole ship hung pale upon the sea, with never a pulse to rock her; her spires rose phantasmally to the stars, but her beauty was ghostly and the horror of sin was in it. CHAPTER XXXVIII SHE ESCAPES FROM THE CONVICT SHIP WITH HER SWEETHEART AND OTHERS