There was a splash, and then we were alone. 'And you!' he
cried in a fierce voice--'you who have spied upon me--you will follow!
The water there will close your chattering mouth!' I shrieked, begged,
and implored, but his trembling hands were upon my throat. First he
dragged me to my feet, then he threw me upon my knees, and at last, with
that grim brutality which characterizes him, he directed me to go and
get a mop and bucket from the forecastle and remove the dark red stains
from the chair and deck. This he actually forced me to do, gloating over
my horror as I removed for him the traces of his cowardly crime. Then,
with his hand upon my shoulder, he said, 'Girl! Recollect that you keep
to-night's work secret. If not, you shall die a death more painful than
that dog has died--one in which you shall experience all the tortures of
the damned. Recollect, not a single word--or death! Now, go to your
cabin, and never pry into my affairs again.'
"I went back to my cabin as I was bid, and sat speechless in abject
horror.
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