That will make more
room for the extra hands forward."
"It will be a tight stow, sir," the captain said. "I have ordered
ten more hammocks and hooks, but I doubt whether there will be room
to sling them all."
"I am sure there won't, Hawkins. You had better put the hooks in
the saloon beams, and swing five or six of the hammocks there. We
can take the hooks out and stop up the holes when we don't need
them any longer. We may be having hot weather before we have done,
and I don't want the men crowded too closely forward."
Twenty minutes later Frank came down to the boat with the skipper,
carrying a large roll of charts, and a man with a handcart
containing a bundle of jerseys and caps, and fifty white duck
trousers. A large shore boat was alongside when they reached the
Osprey.
"Is this the last lot?" the captain asked the man in charge of the
pile of casks and boxes with which it was filled.
"Yes, sir, this is the last batch."
"Get them on deck, Hawkins," Frank said, "and we can get them down
and stowed when we are under sail. Get the anchor short at once,
the sail covers off and the mainsail up.
"I don't want to lose a minute," he went on, turning to George
Lechmere.
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