“Aye, aye, sir,” said Israel, and in a moment he sprang to the deck, and soon found himself mixed in among some two hundred English sailors of a large letter of marque.  At once he perceived that the story of half the crew being killed was a mere hoax, played off for the sake of making an escape.  Orders were continually being given to pull on this and that rope, as the ship crowded all sail in flight.  To these orders Israel, with the rest, promptly responded, pulling at the rigging stoutly as the best of them; though Heaven knows his heart sunk deeper and deeper at every pull which thus helped once again to widen the gulf between him and home.

In intervals he considered with himself what to do.  Favored by the obscurity of the night and the number of the crew, and wearing much the same dress as theirs, it was very easy to pass himself off for one of them till morning.  But daylight would be sure to expose him, unless some cunning, plan could be hit upon.  If discovered for what he was, nothing short of a prison awaited him upon the ship’s arrival in port.

It was a desperate case, only as desperate a remedy could serve.  One thing was sure, he could not hide.  Some audacious parade of himself promised the only hope.  Marking that the sailors, not being of the regular navy, wore no uniform, and perceiving that his jacket was the only garment on him which bore any distinguishing badge, our adventurer took it off, and privily dropped it overboard, remaining now in his dark blue woollen shirt and blue cloth waistcoat.

What the more inspirited Israel to the added step now contemplated, was the circumstance that the ship was not a Frenchman’s or other foreigner, but her crew, though enemies, spoke the same language that he did.

So very quietly, at last, he goes aloft into the maintop, and sitting down on an old sail there, beside some eight or ten topmen, in an off-handed way asks one for tobacco.

“Give us a quid, lad,” as he settled himself in his seat.

“Halloo,” said the strange sailor, “who be you?  Get out of the top!  The fore and mizzentop men won’t let us go into their tops, and blame me if we’ll let any of their gangs come here.  So, away ye go.”

“You’re blind, or crazy, old boy,” rejoined Israel.  “I’m a topmate; ain’t I, lads?” appealing to the rest.

“There’s only ten maintopmen belonging to our watch; if you are one, then there’ll be eleven,” said a second sailor.  “Get out of the top!”

“This is too bad, maties,” cried Israel, “to serve an old topmate this way.  Come, come, you are foolish.  Give us a quid.”  And, once more, with the utmost sociability, he addressed the sailor next to him.

“Look ye,” returned the other, “if you don’t make away with yourself, you skulking spy from the mizzen, we’ll drop you to deck like a jewel-block.”

Seeing the party thus resolute, Israel, with some affected banter, descended.