If this were not the heaviest job we had yet performed, it was the most tiring; but we plied our arms steadily and perseveringly, taking every now and then a spell of rest, and shifting our posts so as to vary our postures; and after pumping I scarcely know how long, the pumps sucked, whereat the boatswain and I cheered heartily. "Now, sir," said the boatswain, as we entered the cuddy to refresh ourselves with a drain of brandy and water after our heavy exertions, "we know that the ship's dry, leastways, starting from the ship's bottom; if the well's sounded agin at half-past ten--its now half-past nine--that 'll be time enough to find out if anything's gone wrong." "How about the watches? We're all adrift again. Here's Cornish at the wheel, and its your watch on deck." As I said this, Miss Robertson came out of the cabin where her father lay--do what I might I could not induce her to keep away from the old man's body--and approaching us slowly asked why we had been pumping. "Why, ma'm," replied the boatswain, "it's always usual to pump the water out o' wessels. On dry ships it's done sometimes in the mornin' watch, and t'others they pumps in the first dog watch. All accordin'. Some wessels as they calls colliers require pumpin' all day long; and the _Heagle_, which was the fust wessel as I went to sea in, warn't the only Geordie as required pumpin' not only all day long but all night long as well. Every wessel has her own custom, but it's a werry dry ship indeed as don't want pumpin' wunce a day." "I was afraid," she said, "when I heard the clanking of the pumps that water was coming into the ship." She looked at me earnestly, as though she believed that this was the case and that I would not frighten her by telling her so. I had learnt to interpret the language of her eyes by this time, and answered her doubts as though she had expressed them. "I should tell you at once if there was any danger threatened in that way," I said. "There was more water in the ship than I cared to find in her, and so the three of us have been pumping her out." "About them watches, Mr. Royle?" exclaimed the boatswain. "Well, begin afresh, if you like," I replied. "I'll take the wheel for two hours, and then you can relieve me." "Why will you not let me take my turn at the wheel?" said Miss Robertson. The boatswain laughed. "I have proved to you that I know how to steer." "Well, that's right enough," said the boatswain. "All three of you can lie down, then." I smiled and shook my head. Said the boatswain: "If your arms wur as strong as your sperrit Miss, there'd be no reason why you shouldn't go turn and turn about with us." "But I can hold the wheel."