"I'm certain something has happened, or he would not look so serious!" "Bless you, Martin, you mustn't judge by his phiz.

I daresay the men have only been skylarking in the fo'c's'le, and it doesn't please him." But it was something far more important than that which had occasioned the gravity of the mate's face, as the skipper soon heard; for, on Mr Macdougall coming up close to us, he whispered something in the skipper's ear which made him turn as white as a sheet.
"Martin, Martin," he said to me, dropping his voice, however, so that the men might not hear the terrible news before it was absolutely necessary to tell them, "the coals are on fire in the main hold!".