Instantly I grasped it . Why I should have done so I can hardly say . It was at first mere instinct , but once I had it in my hands and found it fast , curiosity began to get the upper hand , and I determined I should have one look through the cabin window . I pulled in hand over hand on the cord , and when I judged myself near enough , rose at infinite risk to about half my height and thus commanded the roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin . By this time the schooner and her little consort were gliding pretty swiftly through the water ; indeed , we had already fetched up level with the camp-fire . The ship was talking , as sailors say , loudly , treading the innumerable ripples with an incessant weltering splash ; and until I got my eye above the window-sill I could not comprehend why the watchmen had taken no alarm . One glance , however , was sufficient ; and it was only one glance that I durst take from that unsteady skiff . It showed me Hands and his companion locked together in deadly wrestle , each with a hand upon the other 's throat . I dropped upon the thwart again , none too soon , for I was near overboard . I could see nothing for the moment but these two furious , encrimsoned faces swaying together under the smoky lamp , and I shut my eyes to let them grow once more familiar with the darkness . The endless ballad had come to an end at last , and the whole diminished company about the camp-fire had broken into the chorus I had heard so often : `` Fifteen men on the dead man 's chest -- Yo-ho-ho , and a bottle of rum ! Drink and the devil had done for the rest -- Yo-ho-ho , and a bottle of rum ! '' I was just thinking how busy drink and the devil were at that very moment in the cabin of the HISPANIOLA , when I was surprised by a sudden lurch of the coracle . At the same moment , she yawed sharply and seemed to change her course . The speed in the meantime had strangely increased . I opened my eyes at once . All round me were little ripples , combing over with a sharp , bristling sound and slightly phosphorescent . The HISPANIOLA herself , a few yards in whose wake I was still being whirled along , seemed to stagger in her course , and I saw her spars toss a little against the blackness of the night ; nay , as I looked longer , I made sure she also was wheeling to the southward . I glanced over my shoulder , and my heart jumped against my ribs . There , right behind me , was the glow of the camp-fire .
The current had turned at right angles , sweeping round along with it the tall schooner and the little dancing XXXXX ; ever quickening , ever bubbling higher , ever muttering louder , it went spinning through the narrows for the open sea .
HISPANIOLA Yo-ho-ho camp-fire coracle first night right spars weltering window-sill