Chapter 8

But then we are in order, when we are
Most out of order.

JACK CADE.

Disappointed in his private appeal to the captain's dread of popular
disapprobation, Mr. Dodge returned to his secret work on deck: for like a
true freeman of the exclusive school, this person never presumed to work
openly, unless sustained by a clear majority; canvassing all around him,
and striving hard to create a public opinion, as he termed it, on his side
of the question, by persuading his hearers that every one was of his
particular way of thinking already; a method of exciting a feeling much
practised by partisans of his school. In the interval, Captain Truck was
working up his day's reckoning by himself, in his own state-room, thinking
little, and caring less, about any thing but the results of his figures,
which soon convinced him, that by standing a few hours longer on his
present course, he should "plump his ship ashore" somewhere between
Falmouth and the Lizard.

This, discovery annoyed the worthy master so much the more, on account of
the suggestions of his late visiter; for nothing could be less to his
taste than to have the appearance of altering his determination under a
menace. Still something must be done before midnight, for he plainly
perceived that thirty or forty miles, at the farthest, would fetch up the
Montauk on her present course. The passengers had left the deck to escape
the night air, and he heard the Effinghams inviting Mr. Sharp and Mr.
Blunt into the ladies' cabin, which had been taken expressly for their
party, while the others were calling upon the stewards for the usual
allowance of hot drinks, at the dining-table without. The talking and
noise disturbed him; his own state-room became too confined, and he went
on deck to come to his decision, in view of the angry-looking skies and
the watery waste, over which he was called to prevail. Here we shall leave
him, pacing the quarter-deck, in moody silence alone, too much disturbed
to smoke even, while the mate of the watch sat in the mizzen-rigging, like
a monkey, keeping a look-out to windward and ahead. In the mean time, we
will return to the cabin of the Effinghams.

The Montauk was one of the noblest of those surpassingly beautiful and
yacht-like ships that now ply between the two hemispheres in such numbers,
and which in luxury and the fitting conveniences seem to vie with each
other for the mastery. The cabins were lined with satin-wood and
bird's-eye maple; small marble columns separated the glittering panels of
polished wood, and rich carpets covered the floors. The main cabin had the
great table, as a fixture, in the centre, but that of Eve, somewhat
shorter, but of equal width, was free from all encumbrance of the sort. It