"Then the fact is the owners haven't yet moved out the cargo?" said the Resurrection Man, interrogatively.
"No—nor don't intend to, neither—for the present," answered Swot. "And what's more, there's a police-boat pulling about in that part of the river all day and all night; but I can assure you that it gives the schooner a precious wide berth."
"Well, I can't understand it yet," said the Buffer.
"The fact is," continued Swot, "the _Lady Anne_ was on its way to Standgate Creek in the Medway, when it got ashore on the bank of the Thames. Do you begin to take?"
"Can't say I do," answered the Resurrection Man. "Is the crew on board still?"
"The crew consisted this morning, when I heard about it last, of three men and a boy," returned Swot; "and one of them men is a surgeon. But the _Lady Anne_ has got the yellow flag flying;—and now do you comprehend me?"
"The plague!" ejaculated the Resurrection Man and the Buffer in the same breath.
"The plague!" repeated Moll Wicks, with a shudder.
"Neither more or less," said Swot, coolly emptying his second mug of grog.
There was a dead silence for some moments.
It seemed as if the spirits of those who had listened with deep attention to the foreman's narrative, were suddenly damped by the explanation that closed it.
"Well—are you afraid?" asked Swot, at length breaking silence.
"No," returned the Resurrection Man, throwing off the depression which had fallen upon him. "But there is something awful in boarding a plague-ship."
"Are you sure the gold dust is on board?" demanded the Buffer.
"Certain. My information is quite correct. Besides, you may get the newspapers and read all about it for yourselves."
"Then, by God, if a woman will dare it, we mustn't show the white feather, Jack," exclaimed the Resurrection Man.
"That's speaking to the point," observed the foreman. "You see there's a guard on land, to prevent any one from going near the vessel on that side; and the police-boat rows about on the river. The plan would be, to get down to Gravesend to-morrow, then to-morrow night, to drop down with the tide close under the bank, and get alongside the vessel."
"All that can be done easy enough," said the Resurrection Man. "But we want more hands. Of course you'll go with us?"
