Someone was singing , a dull , old , droning sailor 's song , with a droop and a quaver at the end of every verse , and seemingly no end to it at all but the patience of the singer . I had heard it on the voyage more than once and remembered these words : `` But one man of her crew alive , What put to sea with seventy-five . '' And I thought it was a ditty rather too dolefully appropriate for a company that had met such cruel losses in the morning . But , indeed , from what I saw , all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on . At last the breeze came ; the schooner sidled and drew nearer in the dark ; I felt the hawser slacken once more , and with a good , tough effort , cut the last fibres through . The breeze had but little action on the coracle , and I was almost instantly swept against the bows of the HISPANIOLA . At the same time , the schooner began to turn upon her heel , spinning slowly , end for end , across the current . I wrought like a fiend , for I expected every moment to be swamped ; and since I found I could not push the coracle directly off , I now shoved straight astern . At length I was clear of my dangerous neighbour , and just as I gave the last impulsion , my hands came across a light cord that was trailing overboard across the stern bulwarks . 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 -- XXXXX , and a bottle of rum ! ''
Yo-ho-ho bulwarks camp-fire fibres first morning neighbour slacken weltering window-sill