Ludar, indeed, born to command, was not sparing in his abuse of their laziness; and it vexed me a little to see how he thereby made himself an enemy of every man among them.
Towards nightfall we were all ship-shape, and the watch being set--of which Ludar was one--I had leisure to go below to seek the sleep I sorely needed.

I would fain, before doing so, have visited the maiden to satisfy myself that all went well with her.

But I durst hardly venture so far without her bidding.

I sought my berth below, therefore--and a vile, foul corner of the hold it was--and laid myself down, wondering what would be the end of all this journeying.
There was a sailor--one of the Frenchmen--down beside me, who, when he saw who I was, sat up and began to talk.

In a foolish moment I betrayed that I understood some of his French lingo, whereat he--being more than half drunken--waxed civil, and his tongue loosed itself still more.
"Who is she ?" he whispered presently, in his foreign tongue.
"A lady," said I, shortly.
"So! and monstrous rich, by our lady! Comrade," said he, "I helped carry her box on board.