The Castaways Read online

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  THE CREW TAKE POSSESSION OF THE BRIG.

  The process of nursing the rescued men back to health and strength hadafforded me an opportunity to learn their story, which, briefly, was tothe effect that their ship, the _Black Prince_, of Liverpool, had sailedfrom Melbourne for home on such a date, and that all had gone well withthem until such another date, when the ship was discovered to be on firein the fore hold. Every effort had then been made to subdue the flames,but ineffectually, the fire continuing to spread, until, some threehours after the discovery of the outbreak, the flames burst through thedeck, when it became apparent that the ship was doomed, and the boatswere ordered out. According to the narrative of the men the ship hadbeen abandoned in a perfectly orderly manner, the passengers going awayin the cutters and gigs, in charge of the captain and the three mates,while the remaining portion of the crew, for whom room could not befound in these boats, were told off to the longboat. They had remainedby the ship until she burned to the water's edge and sank, and then madesail in company, steering a north-west course. Then, on the fourth day,a westerly gale had sprung up, and the boats had become separated. Thiswas supposed to have occurred about a fortnight before we had fallen inwith them; but they admitted that they were by no means sure as to thisperiod, for on the twelfth day after abandoning the ship theirprovisions had become exhausted and they had been subjected to all thehorrors of starvation, during the latter portion of which they had lostall account of time.

  Having heard their story, it became necessary to tell them my own, whichI did in considerable detail, winding up by informing them that, thebrig having been found derelict, the salvage money upon her would amountto something very considerable, and that, while by right the whole of itmight be claimed by Miss Onslow and myself, we would willingly divide itequally among all hands instead of offering them ordinary wages fortheir assistance in taking the vessel into port.

  I was rather disappointed to observe that this generous offer--as Iconsidered it--evoked no show of enthusiasm or gratitude on the part ofmy crew; they accepted it quite as a matter of course, and as no morethan their due, although they were fully aware that, between us, MissOnslow and I had already taken care of and sailed the brig for severaldays, and--barring such an untoward circumstance as a heavy gale ofwind--could no doubt have eventually taken her into Table Bay. I saidnothing, however, knowing from past experience that forecastle Jack isnot overmuch given to a feeling of gratitude--perhaps in too many casesthe poor fellow has little or nothing to be grateful for--but proceededwith the business of the vessel by appointing Peter O'Gorman, lateboatswain, and John Price, late carpenter, of the _Black Prince_, to thepositions of chief and second mate respectively. This done, the two mennamed at once picked the watches; the port watch assumed duty, thestarboard watch went below, and everybody apparently settled forthwithinto his proper place. While the ceremony of picking the watches wasproceeding I availed myself of the opportunity thus afforded to takestock of our new associates as a whole, and, after making everyallowance for the effects of the hardship and suffering that they had sorecently passed through, I was compelled to confess to myself that theywere by no means a prepossessing lot; they, one and all, O'Gorman andPrice not excepted, wore that sullen, hang-dog, ruffianly expression ofcountenance that marks the very lowest class of British seamen, the scumand refuse of the vocation. Still, we had not far to go, and I consoledmyself with the reflection that they would probably prove good enough toserve my purpose.

  On the following morning, immediately after breakfast, I secured a setof observations of the sun for my longitude, Miss Onslow noting thechronometer time for me; and immediately afterwards I descended to thecabin to work them out. While on deck, engaged with the sextant, I hadnoticed that my movements were being watched with extraordinary interestby the hands on deck, and when, upon my return to the cabin, I proceededto make my calculations and afterwards prick off the brig's position onthe chart, I could not help observing that the steward--who was busyinghimself in and out of the pantry at the time--betrayed as keen aninterest in my doings as any of the people on deck. Miss Onslow wasalso watching me; and when I had finished and was about to roll up thechart she asked me if I had found out the ship's position, whereupon Ipointed it out to her, at the same time casually mentioning the factthat we were still one hundred and eighty miles from Table Bay. As Isaid this, I saw the steward leave his pantry and go on deck. I thoughtnothing of it at the time, believing that he had done so in the ordinarycourse of his duty, but a little later on I had reason to believe thathis errand was to inform his shipmates as to the position of the brig.

  Having put away the chart, and waited a few minutes for Miss Onslow--whohad announced her intention of going on deck--we both made our way upthe companion ladder, and took a few turns fore and aft the weather sideof the deck, together, from the wheel grating to the wake of the mainrigging. My companion was in high spirits at the favourable turn thatseemed to have occurred in our affairs, and was chatting with me inanimated tones as to what would be best to do upon our arrival in CapeTown, when O'Gorman, who had been forward among the crew, came slouchingaft along the deck, in true shell-back fashion, and, with the ratherabrupt salutation of "Morning misther; mornin', miss," unceremoniouslyjoined us.

  "Well, O'Gorman, what is it?" said I, for I had met and spoken to himseveral times already on that same morning, and imagined that he now hadsome matter of ship's business to discuss with me.

  "I see you takin' a hobseirwashin just now," he remarked.

  "Yes," I answered, finding that he paused as though expecting me toreply.

  "D'ye mane to say, thin, that ye're a navigator?" he demanded.

  "Certainly I am," I answered, rather testily, my temper rising slightlyat what I considered the boorish familiarity of his tone and manner,which I determined to at once check--"what of it, pray?"

  "Well, ye see, we didn't know--you didn't tell us yesterday--that youwas a navigator," he returned, leering curiously at me out of his eyecorners.

  "Was there any particular reason why I should inform you that I happento be a sailor?" I demanded, fast getting really angry at thisimpertinent inquisition into my qualifications.

  "Oh," he retorted, "av coorse we all knew you was a sailor-man; we couldsee that widout anny tellin'. But a navigator too--bedad, that makes amighty differ!"

  "In what way, pray?" demanded I. "Have you been drinking, this morning,O'Gorman?"

  "The divil a dhrop," he returned. And then, before I could say anotherword, he abruptly turned and walked forward again, saying something tothe men on deck as he went, who instantly dropped such work as they wereengaged upon, and followed him below into the forecastle.

  I was astounded--fairly taken aback--at this extraordinary behaviour, anexplanation of which I was determined to demand at once. With this viewI turned to Miss Onslow, whose arm was linked in mine, and requested herto kindly excuse me for a moment.

  "No," said she, "I will not. I know perfectly well what that glitter inyour eye means: you are angry at that sailor's impertinence, and mean togive him a well-deserved reprimand. But I would rather that you didnothing of the kind, please; the man knows no better; and I do notsuppose he really _meant_ to be rude at all. But I confess I do notlike the expression of his face: there is a mixture of low cunning,obstinacy, and cruel brutality in it that renders his appearancedreadfully repulsive; so please oblige me by taking no notice whateverof his behaviour."

  There was a certain subtle flattery in the apparent inconsequence of mycompanion's last few words that made them peculiarly acceptable to me;but discipline is discipline, and must be maintained, at all hazards,even when a crew has been picked up in such irregular fashion as minehad been; and I was determined to at once impress upon this Irishruffian the fact that I was skipper of the brig, and that I intended toexact from him the respect and deference of manner due to the position.So I said to my companion:

  "I have no doubt you are perfe
ctly right in your estimate of the man'sintentions; but he was altogether too insolent of manner to please me,and he must be taught better; moreover, I wish to ascertain preciselywhat he meant by the remark that my being a navigator made `a mightydiffer.' So please allow me to go forward and put these little mattersright. I shall not be gone longer than five minutes, at the utmost."

  "I will not consent to your going, just now, even for five _seconds_,"answered Miss Onslow, with quiet determination. "You are just angryenough to use the first words that may rise to your lips, withoutpausing to consider whether they happen or not to be offensive, and I amsure that is not a safe temper in which to engage in an altercation withthat man. He is insolent, insubordinate, and altogether a mostdangerous man to deal with--one can tell that by merely glancing at hiseyes--and I have a firm conviction that if you were perchance to offendhim, he would without compunction stab you, or do you some otherdreadful injury--perhaps kill you outright. Therefore,"--with a mostravishing smile, and a tightening of her grip upon my arm--"you will bepleased to consider yourself as my prisoner for the present."

  "And a most willing prisoner, too--at any other time," answered I, withan attempt to fall in with the playful mood in which she had spoken thelast words, while yet my anger was rising, and my anxiety increasing, asI noted the continued absence of the men from the deck. "But at thismoment," I continued, "I have no option; that fellow O'Gorman must bebrought to book _at once_, or my authority will be gone for ever; andthat would never do; the others would only too probably take their cuefrom him, and become insolent and insubordinate in their turn, and thereis no knowing what excesses they might in that case commit!"

  My companion turned pale as she at length realised that it was somethingmore that mere anger springing from my wounded dignity that was movingme; she gazed anxiously into my eyes for a moment, and then said:

  "Have you any weapons of any kind?"

  "None but these," I answered, indicating by a glance my doubled fists;"and, in case of need, a belaying-pin snatched from the rail. But," Iadded cheerfully, "there is no need for weapons in this case; I shallbut have to firmly assert my authority, and the fellow will be broughtto his bearings forthwith."

  "I wish I could think so!" exclaimed Miss Onslow earnestly. "But,somehow, I cannot; I utterly distrust the man; it is not only hisappearance but his behaviour also that is against him. He is a sailor,and, as such, must know perfectly well what respect is due to a captain;and I cannot think he was ever allowed to behave to his former captainas he just now behaved to you. I have a presentiment that he meansmischief of some kind. And see, too, what influence he appears topossess over the rest of the men."

  "Precisely," I agreed. "You see you are coming rapidly round to my viewof his conduct; and therefore I think you will agree with me as to theimmediate necessity for me to assert myself."

  "Yes," she assented--"if you can do so _effectively_. But you must notgo among those men unarmed. They have their knives; but you havenothing. Let us go downstairs and see if we cannot find a pistol, orsomething, in one or the other of our cabins. I have never yetthoroughly searched my cabin, to see what it contains."

  "I have searched mine," said I, "and have found no weapon of any kind;but--ah, there is O'Gorman, now coming out of the forecastle--and therest of the men following him. And, by Jove! they are coming aft! Youare right, there is something in the wind. Kindly go below for a fewminutes, until the discussion which I foresee has come to an end."

  "No, indeed, I will not," whispered my companion, as she strengthenedher hold upon my arm; "I will remain here with you, whatever happens.They will never be such despicable cowards as to use violence in thepresence of a woman."

  There was no time to say more, for O'Gorman, with all hands exceptingthe man at the wheel behind him, was now within hearing distance of us.I looked him squarely in the eye, and at once braced myself forconflict; for there was a sullen, furtive, dogged expression in hisgaze, as he vainly attempted to unflinchingly meet mine, that bodedmischief, although of what precise nature I could not, for the life ofme, guess.

  He so obviously had something to say, and was, moreover, so obviouslythe spokesman for all hands, that I waited for him to begin, determinedto take my cue from him rather than, by speaking first, afford him theopportunity of taking his cue from me. He shifted his weight, uneasily,from leg to leg, two or three times, glanced uncomfortably from MissOnslow's face to mine, removed a large quid of tobacco from his cheekand carefully deposited it in his cap, and betrayed many other symptomsof extreme awkwardness and perturbation of mind for a full minute ormore without discovering a way of saying what he had to say; and souncouthly ridiculous an exhibition did he make of himself that presentlyI detected a tremor of repressed laughter in the pressure of mycompanion's hand upon my arm, and a second or two later the young lady'srisibility so far mastered her that she felt constrained to bury herface in her pocket-handkerchief under pretence of being troubled with asudden fit of coughing.

  O'Gorman, however, was not to be so easily deceived; he at once observedthe convulsion and recognised it for what it was, and the circumstancethat he had excited the mirth of a girl seemed to sting him into action,for he suddenly straightened himself up and, with a vindictive glare atMiss Onslow, exclaimed:

  "Ah! so ye're laughin' at me, eh? All right, my beauty; laugh away!Yell laugh the other side ov y'r purty face afore long!"

  "O'Gorman!" I exclaimed fiercely, advancing a step or two toward himand dragging Miss Onslow after me as she tenaciously clung to my arm."What do you mean, sir? How dare you address yourself to this lady insuch an insolent fashion? Take care what you are about, sir, or I mayfind it very necessary to teach you a lesson in good manners. What doyou want? Why do you stand there staring at me like an idiot? If youhave anything to say, please say it at once, and get about your duty."

  "Oho, bedad, just listen to him!" exclaimed the fellow, now thoroughlyaroused. "Get about me juty, is it? By the powers! but there's othersas'll soon find that they'll have to get about their juty, as well asme!"

  I was by this time brought to the end of my patience; I was in a boilingpassion, and would have sprung upon the man there and then, had not MissOnslow so strenuously resisted my efforts to release myself from herhold that I found it impossible to do so without the exercise of actualviolence. At this moment one of the men behind O'Gorman interposed bymuttering:--loud enough, however, for me to hear:

  "Don't be a fool, Pete, man! Keep a civil tongue in your head, can'tyou; you'll make a mess of the whole business if you don't mind yourweather eye! What's the good of bein' oncivil to the gent, eh? Thatain't the way to work the traverse! Tell him what we wants, and let'sget the job over."

  Thus adjured, O'Gorman pulled himself together and remarked, half--as itseemed--in response to the seaman, and half to me:

  "We wants a manny things. And the first ov thim is: How fur are we fromTable Bay?"

  "Well," answered I, "if it will afford you any satisfaction to know it,I have no objection to inform you that we are just one hundred andeighty miles from it."

  "And how fur may we be from the Horn?" now demanded O'Gorman.

  "The Horn?" I exclaimed. "What has the Horn to do with us, or we withthe Horn?"

  "Why, a precious sight more than you seem to think, mister," retortedthe man, with a swift recurrence to his former insolent, bullyingmanner. "The fact is," he continued, without allowing me time to speak,"we're bound round the Horn; we mean you to take us there; and we wantto know how long it'll be afore we get there."

  "My good fellow," said I, "you don't know what you are talking about.We are bound to Table Bay, and to Table Bay we go, or I will know thereason why. You may go round the Horn, or to the devil, afterwards, andwelcome, so far as I am concerned."

  "Shtop a bit, and go aisy," retorted O'Gorman; "it's yoursilf thatdoesn't know what you're talkin' about. I said we're goin' round theHorn, didn't I? Very well; I repait it, we're goin' round the
Horn--inthis brig--and I'd like to know where's the man that'll purvent us."

  "Ah! I think I now understand you," said I, with an involuntary shudderof horror as the scoundrel's meaning at last burst upon me, and Ithought of the dainty, delicately-nurtured girl by my side; "we pickedyou up, and saved your lives; and now you are about to repay ourkindness by turning pirates and taking the ship from us. Is that it?"

  "By the piper! ye couldn't have guessed it thruer if ye'd been guessin'all day," answered O'Gorman coolly.

  "My lads," exclaimed I, appealing to the group of seamen standing behindthe Irishman, "is this true? Is it possible that you really contemplaterepaying this lady and myself for what we have done for you, with suchbarbarous ingratitude?"

  The men shuffled uneasily, looked at one another, as though each hopedthat his fellow would accept the invidious task of replying to myquestion; and presently Price, the carpenter, spoke:

  "Ay, sir; it is true. We are sorry if it is not to your liking, but wehave very particular business in the Pacific, and there we must go.This is just our chance; we shall never have a better; and we should befools if we did not take it, now that it has come in our way."

  "Very well," said I bitterly; "you are sixteen men, while I am one only;if you are absolutely resolved to perpetrate this act of monstrousingratitude I cannot prevent you. But I positively refuse to help youin any way whatever--you have no power or means to compel me to dothat--so the best plan will be for us to part; this lady and I will takethe boat, with sufficient provisions and water to enable us to reachTable Bay, and you may find your way round the Horn as best you can."

  O'Gorman simply laughed in my face.

  "Take the boat, is it?" he exclaimed, with a loud guffaw. "Oh no,misther; that won't do at all at all. We shall want the boat forourselves. And we shall want your help, too, to navigate the brig forus, and we mane to have it, begor'ra!"

  "I fail to see how you are going to compel me to do anything that I mayresolve _not_ to do," retorted I, putting a bold face upon the matter,yet momentarily realising more clearly how completely we were in theirhands, and at their mercy.

  "You do?" exclaimed O'Gorman; "then wait till I tell ye. If ye don'tconsint to do as we want ye to, we'll just rig up a bit of a raft, andsend ye adrift upon her--_alone_; d'ye understand me, misther--_alone_!"

  "No," interposed Miss Onslow, "you shall do nothing of the kind, youcowardly wretches; where Mr Conyers goes, I go also, even if it shouldbe overboard, with _no_ raft to float us."

  "Oh no, my purty," answered O'Gorman, with the leer of a satyr, "we'dtake moighty good care you didn't do that. If Misther Conyers won't beobligin', why, we'll _have_ to spare _him_, I s'pose; but we couldn't dowidout you, my dear; what'd we do--"

  I could bear no more. "Silence, you blackguard!" I shouted, whilevainly striving to shake off Miss Onslow's tenacious hold upon my arm,that I might get within striking reach of him--"silence! How dare youaddress a helpless, defenceless woman in that insulting manner? What doyou expect to gain by it? Address yourself exclusively to me, if youplease."

  "Wid all me heart," answered O'Gorman, in nowise offended by my abuse ofhim. "I simply spoke to the lady because she spoke first. And bedad,it's glad I am she did, because it's give me the opporchunity to show yehow we mane to convart ye to our views. Navigate the brig for us, andye'll nayther of ye have any cause to complain of bad tratement fromanny of us: refuse, and away ye goes adhrift on a raft, while the lady'll stay and kape us company."

  To say that I was mad with indignation at this ruffian's gross behaviourbut feebly expresses my mental condition; to such a state of fury was Istirred that but for the restraining hold of the fair girl upon my arm--from which she by no means suffered me to breakaway--I should mostassuredly have "run amok" among the mutineers, and in all probabilityhave been killed by them in self-defence; as it was, my anger and thebitterly humiliating conviction of my utter helplessness so nearlyovercame me that I was seized with an attack of giddiness that causedeverything upon which my eyes rested to become blurred and indistinct,and to whirl hither and thither in a most distracting fashion, while Iseemed to lose the control of my tongue, so that when I essayed to speakI found it impossible to utter a single intelligible word; moreover, Imust have been on the very verge of becoming unconscious, from theviolence of my agitation, for I had precisely the same feeling that oneexperiences when dreaming--a sensation of vagueness and unreality as towhat was transpiring, so that, when Miss Onslow spoke, her voice soundedfaint and far away, and her words, although I heard them distinctly,conveyed no special significance to my comprehension.

  "Mr Conyers will acquaint you with his decision in due time, when hehas had leisure for reflection," said she, in those haughtily scornfultones of hers that I remembered so well. Then I felt and yielded to thepressure of her guiding hand, and presently found myself groping my way,with her assistance, down the companion ladder and into the cabin. Sheguided me to one of the sofa-lockers, upon which I mechanically seatedmyself; and then I saw her go to the swinging rack and pour out a goodstiff modicum of brandy, which she brought and held to my lips. Iswallowed the draught, and after a few seconds my senses returned to me,almost as though I were recovering from a swoon, Miss Onslow assistingmy recovery by seating herself beside me and fanning me with herpocket-handkerchief, gazing anxiously in my face the while.

  "There, you are better now!" she exclaimed encouragingly, as shecontinued to regard me. "Oh, Mr Conyers," she continued, "I am so_very_ sorry to see you thus. But I am not surprised, after all thehardship, and anxiety, and hard work that you have been called upon toendure since the wreck of the unfortunate _City of Cawnpore_. What youhave so bravely borne has been more than sufficient to undermine thehealth of the strongest man; and now, when we hoped that a few hoursmore would bring us to the end of our troubles, comes the cruel shockand disappointment of these wretches' base ingratitude to complete whathardship, anxiety, and suffering have begun. But cheer up; all is notyet lost, by any means; our deliverance is merely deferred until youshall have carried out the wishes of these men; therefore, since we haveno alternative, let us accept the inevitable with a good grace--do whatthey require as speedily as may be, and so bring this unfortunateadventure to an end. And," she continued, after a barely perceptiblepause, "have no anxiety on my account; O'Gorman and his accomplices willnot molest me if you will but conform to their wishes. And, if they_should_, I shall be prepared for them: `Fore-warned is fore-armed'!"

  You may imagine how deeply ashamed of myself and of my late weakness Ifelt as I listened to the heroic words of this delicately-nurtured girl,who had known nothing either of danger, privation, or hardship untilthis frightful experience of all three had come to her with the wreck ofthe ship which was to have conveyed her to her father's arms. Yetterrible as her situation was, she uttered no word of repining, hercourage was immeasurably superior to mine; her sympathy was all for me;there was no apprehension on her own behalf; and now, at the moment whena new and dreadful trouble had come upon the top of all that we hadpreviously undergone, when our brightest hopes were dashed to theground, it was she who found it needful to encourage me, instead of Ihaving to comfort and encourage her!

  Nor would she permit me to suffer the humiliation of having proved lessstrong than herself; at the first word of apology and self-condemnationthat I uttered she silenced me by laying the whole blame upon theanxiety and fatigue to which I had been of late exposed; and when atlength she had salved the wound inflicted upon my self-esteem by myrecent loss of self-control, she set about the task of coaxing me toyield with at least an apparent good grace to the demands of the men--seeing that we were completely in their power, and could do nootherwise--in order that we might secure such full measure of goodtreatment from them as they might be disposed to accord to us. And soconvincingly did she argue that, despite my reluctance to acknowledgemyself conquered, I at length gave in; being influenced chiefly thereto,not by Miss Onslow's arguments, but by the gall
ing conviction that inthis way only could I hope to save her from the violence with which thescoundrels had almost openly threatened her in the event of mynon-compliance.

  This matter settled, I went on deck, where I found the entire crewcongregated about the binnacle, awaiting me. They watched my approachin silence--and, as I thought, with ill-concealed anxiety--until I waswithin two paces of the group, when I halted, regarding themsteadfastly. By this time I had completely recovered the command of mytemper, and my self-possession; and as I noted their anxious looks Ibegan to realise that, after all, these fellows were by no means soindependent of me that they would be likely to wantonly provoke me; andI resolved to bring that point well home to them, with the view ofdriving the most advantageous bargain possible.

  "Well, men," said I, "I have considered your proposal;--and have come tothe conclusion that I will accede to it--upon certain conditions which Iwill set forth in due course. But, first of all, I should like to knowwhat you would have done supposing I had not happened to have been anavigator?"

  The rest of the men looked at O'Gorman, and he replied:

  "Oh, you'd just have had to join us, or have gone overboard."

  "Yes," said I. "And what then? How would you have managed withoutanyone to have navigated the ship for you?"

  "We should ha' had to ha' done the best we could," replied Pricenonchalantly.

  "To what part of the Pacific are you bound?" asked I.

  "To an oiland in latichood--" began O'Gorman.

  "To an island?" I interrupted. "And do you think you would ever havesucceeded in finding that island without the assistance of a navigator?Do you think you would ever have reached the Pacific at all? By whatmeans would you ascertain your whereabouts and avoid dangers?" Idemanded.

  There was a long silence, which Price at length broke by replying:

  "Oh, we'd ha' managed somehow."

  "Yes," said I, "you would have managed somehow--for a few days, orweeks, as the case might be; at the end of which time you would eitherhave run your ship ashore, and lost her; or you would have foundyourselves hopelessly out of your reckoning, with no knowledge of whereyou were, or how to steer in order to reach your destination."

  Nobody attempted to reply to this, all hands evidently realising thetruth of what I had said, and pondering upon it. At length, however,when the silence had grown embarrassing, O'Gorman broke it, by asking--in a much more civil tone than he had yet chosen to adopt with me:

  "Well, misther, allowin' all this to be thrue, what of it?"

  "Nothing, except that before propounding the conditions upon which I amwilling to agree to your proposal, I wished to make it perfectly clearto you all that you can do absolutely nothing without my help," said I."You have chosen to adopt a very domineering and offensive tone with me,under the evident impression that the young lady and myself arecompletely at your mercy. And so we are, I willingly admit, but not tothe extent that you seem to suppose; because, if you will reflect for amoment, you will see that you dare not murder, or even ill-treat me, orthe young lady. Here we are, in the South Atlantic, and not a man amongyou all possesses knowledge enough to take this brig from where she nowfloats to a port; hence you are as much at my mercy as I am at yours.You can do absolutely nothing without me. Therefore, if you require myassistance you must agree to my terms."

  "Very well, sorr," answered O'Gorman; "let's hear what thim terms are."

  "In the first place," said I, "you will all treat the lady with theutmost respect, no one presuming to speak to her except in reply to anyremark which she may be pleased to make."

  "I shan't agree to that," shouted Price aggressively. "We're all goin'to be equal, here, now; and if I feel like speakin' to the gal, I shallspeak to her, and I'd like to know who'll stop me."

  "Oh, shut up, Chips, cawn't ye!" exclaimed one of the other men--aCockney, if his tongue did not belie him, "shut up, and stow that`equality' yarn of yours. We've all heard that before, and I, for one,don't believe in it; it's all very well among a lot o' sailor-men likeourselves, but you'll never be the equal of the lidy--no, nor of thegent neither--not if you was to live to be as old as Mathusalem; so whatgood would it do you to talk to her? Why, she wouldn't _look_ at an oldtarry-breeches like you or me, much less talk to us! Garn! You goahead, sir; _we'll_ look awfter Chips, and keep him in order; neverfear!"

  "I hope you will, for your own sakes," I retorted significantly, leavingthem to interpret my meaning as they chose. "My next condition," Icontinued, "is that the cabin and the staterooms are to be left to theexclusive use of the lady and myself, the steward only being allowedaccess to them.

  "My next condition is that no man shall have more than two gills of rumper day--half to be served out at midday, and the remainder at fourbells of the first dog-watch. In the event of bad weather, or otherespecial circumstances, the allowance may be increased at my discretion,and by so much as I may consider necessary.

  "And my last condition is that when this business is concluded, the ladyand I are to be allowed to take the boat, with a sufficient stock ofprovisions and water, and to quit the ship within sight of some suitableharbour, to be chosen by myself."

  A dead silence followed this bold announcement on my part, which was atlength broken by O'Gorman, who, looking round upon his motley crowd offollowers, demanded:

  "Well, bhoys, you've heard what the gintleman says. Have anny of yeannything to say agin it?"

  "Yes; I have," answered the irrepressible Price. "I don't care aropeyarn whether I'm allowed to speak to the gal or not; but I thinksthat O'Gorman and me, seein' that we're to be the mates of this herehooker, ought to berth aft, and to take our meals in the cabin; and I'mfor havin' our rights."

  "You will do neither the one nor the other, with my consent, Price, Iassure you," said I. "And unless my conditions are absolutely compliedwith I shall decline to help you in any way."

  "Oh, you will, eh?" sneered Price. "You'd better not, though, because Idessay we could soon find a way to bring ye round to our way ofthinkin'. We could stop your grub, for instance, and starve ye untilyou was willin' to do what was wanted. And if that didn't do, whythere's the--"

  "Stop!" I exclaimed fiercely, "I have had enough, and more than enough,of threats, my man, and will listen to them no further. Now, understandme, all of you. I have stated the conditions upon which I will meetyour wishes, and I will not abate one jot of them. Agree to them ornot, as you please. You have taken the ship from me, and now you may doas you will with her; but, make no mistake, I will only help you of myown free will; I would rather kill the young lady and myself with my ownhand than submit to compulsion from a crowd of mutineers. Take your owntime to decide; _I_ am in no hurry."

  "Why, he defies us!" exclaimed Price, turning to his companions. "Whatd'ye say, boys, shall we give him a lesson? Shall us show him thatwe're his masters?"

  "No, mate, we shan't," interposed the fellow who had spoken before; "andif you don't stop your gab about `lessons' and `masters' I'll see if Icawn't stop it for you. What we want, mates, is to get to that islandthat O'Gorman has told us so much about; and here is a gent who can takeus to it. What do we want more? Do we want to grub in the cabin?Ain't the fo'k'sle good enough for us, who've lived in fo'k'sles all ourlives? Very well, then, let's agree to the gent's terms, and have donewith it. What d'ye s'y?"

  It soon appeared that the entire party were willing--Price, however,consenting under protest;--so I retired to the cabin and drew up theterms in writing, together with an acknowledgment on the part of thecrew that they had taken the ship from me by force, and that I wasacting as navigator under compulsion; and this the entire party more orless reluctantly signed--or affixed their mark to--Miss Onslow acting aswitness to the signatures of the men. This done, with bitter chagrinand profound misgiving as to the issue of the adventure, I gave theorder to wear ship, and we bore up on a course that pointed the brig'sjib-boom straight for the far-distant Cape of Storms.