"Ever sailed in her?" asked Jack.
"No, thank Gaud!"
"Well, I saw her in Manila. Her decks were one mass of bloodstains; you couldn't get them out, either—holystoning only showed them up brighter. Her old man shot six men off the main-topsail yard. Some of her crew laid for him one day, and cut him open; but he recovered. That's what I call a hot ship."[3]
"I callate she's got to be some swift to rake in the pool against this craft, bloodstains or no bloodstains," drawled the gambler.
At this moment the sharp report of a Winchester rifle echoed through the ship.
Half the watch sprang to their feet with various exclamations.
"Gun-play, by all that's holy!" ejaculated Bedrock Ben.
"Some locoed critter goin' against rope," hazarded Broncho coolly, as they crowded to the door.
But the cockney did not stir from his bunk.