At the rear of the crowd, hanging back from the company of theirbetters, taking no part in the sport of ba The smell was worse than all the other odours of theslave deck, and Hal's gorge rose to scald the back of his throat. His eyes and his mouth were allthat showed through the slits in the black cloth. Van de Velde grunted again, and scraped his plate noisily to drawattention to the fact that he was ready to sample the beef.
Rather it had hardened them, and now thelong march had put a temper on them. Sir Francis smiled and shook his head. Hal saw that his misgivings had been fully borne out. Sir Francis turned to the carpenter, who stood ready at the stern railwith a boarding axe in his hands.
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