Chapter 18

Here, in the sands. Thee I'll rake up--

LEAR

His mind made up, his intentions announced, and his ship in readiness,
Captain Truck gave his orders to proceed with promptitude and clearness.
The ladies remaining behind, he observed that the two Messrs. Effingham,
as a matter of course, would stay with them as protectors, though little
could harm them where they were.

"I propose to leave the ship in the care of Mr. Blunt," he said, "for I
perceive something about that gentleman which denotes a nautical instinct.
If Mr. Sharp choose to remain also, your society will be the more
agreeable, and in exchange, gentlemen, I ask the favour of the strong arms
of all your servants. Mr. Monday is my man in fair or foul, and so, I
flatter myself, will be Sir George Templemore; and as for Mr. Dodge, if he
stay behind, why the Active Inquirer will miss a notable paragraph, for
there shall be no historian to the expedition, but one of my own
appointing. Mr. Saunders shall have the honour of cooking for you in the
meanwhile, and I propose taking every one else to the Dane."

As no serious objections could be made to this arrangement, within an hour
of the time when the ship was fastened, the cutter and jolly-boat
departed, it being the intention of Captain Truck to reach the wreck that
evening, in season to have his sheers ready to raise by daylight in the
morning; or he hoped to be back again in the course of the succeeding
day. No time was to be lost, he knew, the return of the Arabs being hourly
expected, and the tranquillity of the open sea being at all times a matter
of the greatest uncertainty. With the declared view of making quick work,
and with the secret apprehension of a struggle with the owners of the
country, the captain took with him every officer and man in his ship that
could possibly be spared, and as many of the passengers as he thought
might be useful. As numbers might be important in the way of intimidation,
he cared almost as much for appearances as for any thing else, or
certainly he would not have deemed the presence of Mr. Dodge of any great
moment; for to own the truth, he expected the editor of the Active
Inquirer would prove the quality implied by the first word of the title of
his journal, as much in any other way as in fighting.

Neither provisions nor water, beyond what might be necessary in pulling to
the wreck, nor ropes, nor blocks, nor any thing but arms and ammunition,
were taken in the boats; for the examination of the morning had shown the
captain, that, notwithstanding so much had been plundered, a sufficiency
still remained in the stranded vessel. Indeed, the fact that so much had
been left was one of his reasons for hastening off himself, as he deemed