Whoever Mr. Hornblower might be, it looked as if he had made elaborate
preparations for the game played with such success.
"Poor Tom will be worried to death when he finds nothing of me," was the
natural fear of Jim, while turning over in his mind the extraordinary
situation in which he was placed. Despite the warning uttered by his
captor before leaving, the boy stole up the steps and stealthily tried the
door. It was fastened too securely for him to force it.
As he sat down again in the chair, he heard feet on the deck, and he
concluded that his master had come back to see whether all was right.
But the fellow did not touch the cabin-door; and a minute later the lad
noticed that two men were moving about, then the sounds showed that the
sail was being hoisted. He could distinguish their words as they exchanged
directions, and it was not long before the rippling water told that the
schooner was under way.
"Like enough they have started for China or the Cape of Good Hope, and I
won't see Tom again for years."
He sat still in the cabin, which was lit by a lamp suspended overhead, and
which soon became so warm from the stove and confined air, that he did
what he could to cool off the interior.
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