The shadow of poor Ransome , to be sure , lay on all four of us , and on me and Mr. Shuan in particular , most heavily . And then I had another trouble of my own . Here I was , doing dirty work for three men that I looked down upon , and one of whom , at least , should have hung upon a gallows ; that was for the present ; and as for the future , I could only see myself slaving alongside of negroes in the tobacco fields . Mr. Riach , perhaps from caution , would never suffer me to say another word about my story ; the captain , whom I tried to approach , rebuffed me like a dog and would not hear a word ; and as the days came and went , my heart sank lower and lower , till I was even glad of the work which kept me from thinking . CHAPTER IX THE MAN WITH THE BELT OF GOLD More than a week went by , in which the ill-luck that had hitherto pursued the Covenant upon this voyage grew yet more strongly marked . Some days she made a little way ; others , she was driven actually back . At last we were beaten so far to the south that we tossed and tacked to and fro the whole of the ninth day , within sight of Cape Wrath and the wild , rocky coast on either hand of it . There followed on that a council of the officers , and some decision which I did not rightly understand , seeing only the result : that we had made a fair wind of a foul one and were running south . The tenth afternoon there was a falling swell and a thick , wet , white fog that hid one end of the brig from the other . All afternoon , when I went on deck , I saw men and officers listening hard over the bulwarks -- `` for breakers , '' they said ; and though I did not so much as understand the word , I felt danger in the air , and was excited . Maybe about ten at night , I was serving Mr. Riach and the captain at their supper , when the ship struck something with a great sound , and we heard voices singing out . My two masters leaped to their feet . `` She 's struck ! '' said Mr. Riach . `` No , sir , '' said the captain . `` We 've only run a boat down . '' And they hurried out . The captain was in the right of it . We had run down a boat in the fog , and she had parted in the midst and gone to the bottom with all her crew but one . This man -LRB- as I heard afterwards -RRB- had been sitting in the stern as a passenger , while the rest were on the benches rowing .
At the moment of the blow , the stern had been thrown into the air , and the man -LRB- having his hands free , and for all he was encumbered with a frieze overcoat that came below his knees -RRB- had XXXXX up and caught hold of the brig 's bowsprit .
've driven hear heard hurried leaped said see struck thinking