human
You see, captain, we have only your word that she isn't going to sink, and we have lost confidence in you. You left us three stories down there to drown like rats. You got everybody else off and never thought of your firemen.
gpt
I couldn't think of everything, and I tell you she is not going to sink, shouted the captain, coming closer and pounding the rail with his big fat hand.
human
I've got to get her to anchorage or on the beach, and you've got to help. Fifty dollars is enough; that's nearly a month's wages,
gpt
Why did you let the crew go?
human
I didn't know the for'd bulkhead was holding then. You know if the for'd head holds she can't sink,
gpt
And you left us to drown! Our lives are just as valuable to us as any of the rest of the crew, and maybe more than some of them,
human
I'll give you a hundred apiece. Now stop talking and come on. We'll have to run her stern fore-most, and if we can keep the wheel going enough for steerage way, the wind will blow us in,
gpt
A hundred dollars will not interest me; how about you, Ben? Hiram turned to me and began taking the lifeboat's rope from the cleet and I did the same.
human
You can stay here and drown if you want to, but we're going. The water here looks pretty deep, and I understand when a ship goes down it makes a pretty big hole into which we might fall,
gpt
How much do you want? I've got to save her,
human
If you hadn't let your wireless man go you would have had a tug or another ship here by this time and they would take as salvage only about a quarter of a million, suggested Hiram with a cynical smile, stopping the descent of the boat and making fast again.
gpt
We'll stay, but you've got to pay. Ben here knows something about the engines and I will shovel the coal, but you've got to give us two-fifty apiece,
human
All right, I guess I'll have to do it, but you've got to hustle.
gpt
But, Captain, interrupted Hiram forcibly,
human
If I say you'll get it, you'll get it. Isn't my word good for that much?
gpt
Captain, you left us to drown just like kittens you would like to be rid of. Your word isn't worth a counterfeit dollar. I wouldn't trust you for shoestrings. We've got to have the cash--now!
human
I haven't that much cash on the ship,
gpt
All right, then. Come on, Ben, let's get out of this. I wouldn't take his word for one of his firemen's rations of soup and lumpy stew, and if he gave us the company's I. O. U., we wouldn't get it for a month, and they'd red-tape it to death,
human
Wait a minute and I'll see,
gpt
The old liar; he's got it, all right. Say, Ben, do you really think she will float--it seems to me the bow is farther down than it was?
human
Yes, I think it will. The sea is a little higher than it was, and that makes the ship seem lower, but if it gets worse there may be some danger.
gpt
Do you think we can afford to take the chance?
human
I think we can get away in the lifeboat if the ship gets lower. I'll watch closely, but if we take the money we are bound to take the risk.
gpt
Oh, if we take the money we will deliver the goods, but hang the money if the risk is too big.
human
It's a fair bet. If we back in it will take the strain off the bulkhead, but if it does not hold, we'll have time to get away.
gpt
Watch this old jockey; he'll come rushing back with part of the money, saying that's all he could find.