Page:The Dark Frigate (Hawes).djvu/97

Captain Candle on the quarter-deck was laughing softly and the mate in glee slapped his thigh. ‘‘Thou yerking, firking, jerking tinker,” said he, ‘‘dost hear the cry? ’T is a Monday morning and they are crying thee at the mainmast.”

“A liar! A liar!” the men bawled, crowding close about.

“But ’tis no lie. Or this foully deceitful comerado, this half-fledged boatswain— ” It came suddenly upon Martin that he had been sorely gulled, and that to reveal the truth would fix upon him the lasting ridicule of his shipmates. He swelled in fury and gave them angry glances but they only laughed the louder, then, rope in hand, the mate stepped toward him.

Though he made a motion as if to stand his ground, at sight of the rope Martin’s hand shook in his haste to thrust his knife back into the sheath.

It was the old custom of the sea that they should hail as a liar the man first caught in a lie on a Monday morning and proclaim him thus from the mainmast, and unhappy was the man thus hailed, for thereby he became for a week the ‘‘ship’s liar” and held his place under the swabber.

“For seven days, thou old cozzener,” said the mate, “thou shalt keep clean the beakhead and the chains, and lucky art thou to be at sea. Ashore they would have whipped thee through the streets at the cart’s tail.”

Again a great wave of laughter swept the deck and by his face Martin showed his anger. But though he was ‘‘a fine fellow” and “‘over-bold,” he kept his tongue between his teeth; and whatever he suspected of Philip Marsham, he held his peace and went over the bow