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 leaped up and caught hold of the brig 's bowsprit . It showed he had luck and much agility and unusual strength , that he should have thus saved himself from such a pass . And yet , when the captain brought him into the round-house , and I set eyes on him for the first time , he looked as cool as I did .
He was smallish in stature , but well set and as nimble as a goat ; his face was of a good open expression , but sunburnt very dark , and heavily freckled and pitted with the small-pox ; his eyes were unusually light and had a kind of dancing madness in them , that was both engaging and alarming ; and when he took off his great-coat , he laid a pair of fine silver-mounted pistols on the table , and I XXXXX that he was belted with a great sword .
driven excited grew hear sank saved saw say tacked thrown