The minister knew what was coming, was sure of it as he stepped to the foot of the ladder, had known it the instant he saw that face.

“Mr. Ellery!” shrieked Burgess.  “Mr. Ellery, are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here,” answered the minister, slowly.  He was fighting with all his might to keep his nerves under control.  His impulse was to leap up those steps, rush across that deck, spring into the dory and row, anywhere to get away from the horror of that forecastle.

“Come up!” called Burgess.  “Hurry!  It’s the smallpox!  The darned hooker’s rotten with it.  For God sakes, come quick!”

He ran to the rail, yelling order to Bill and Thoph, who were frantically busy with the dory.  Ellery began to climb the ladder.  His head emerged into the clean, sweet air blowing across the deck.  He drew a breath to the very bottom of his lungs.

Then from behind and below him came the voice again.

“Gimme a drink!” it wailed.  “Gimme a drink of water.  Ain’t one of you cussed swabs got decency enough to fetch me a drink?  I’m dyin’ for a drink, I tell you.  I’m dyin’!”

The minister stood still, his feet on the ladder.  The three men by the rail were working like mad, their faces livid under the sunburn and their hands trembling.  They pushed each other about and swore.  They were not cowards, either.  Ellery knew them well enough to know that.  Burgess had, that very winter, pulled a skiff through broken ice in the face of a wicked no’theaster to rescue an old neighbor whose dory had been capsized in the bay while he was hauling lobster pots.  But now Burgess was as scared as the rest.

Thoph and Bill sprang over the rail into the boat.  Burgess turned and beckoned to Ellery.

“Come on!” he called.  “What are you waitin’ for?”

The minister remained where he was.

“Are you sure—­” he faltered.

“Sure!  Blast it all!  I found the log.  It ain’t been kept for a fortni’t, but there’s enough.  It’s smallpox, I tell you.  Two men died of it three weeks ago.  The skipper died right afterwards.  The mate—­No wonder them that was left run away as soon as they sighted land.  Come on!  Do you want to die, too?”

From the poison pit at the foot of the ladder the man in the bunk called once more.

“Water!” he screeched.  “Water!  Are you goin’ to leave me, you d—­n cowards?”

“For Heaven sakes!” cried Burgess, clutching the rail, “what’s that?”

Ellery answered him.  “It’s one of them,” he said, and his voice sounded odd in his own ears.  “It’s one of the crew.”

“One of the—­Down there?  Has he—­”

“Yes, he has.”

“Help! help!” screamed the voice shrilly.  “Are you goin’ to leave me to die all alone?  He-elp!”

The minister turned.  “Hush!” he called, in answer to the voice, “hush!  I’ll bring you water in a minute.  Burgess,” he added, “you and the rest go ashore.  I shall stay.”