o
overhaul the thing in all its bearings."

Others maintained silence; they instinctively recognised the falsity of
Williams' logic though their intellects were not acute enough to enable
them to put their fingers on the weak spot. Others, again, shook their
heads dissentingly. But Parsons, the irrepressible, after looking at
Williams in blank surprise for a moment or two, broke out in a tone of
mingled contempt and raillery:

"There, there, you've said enough, man; and now you'd better clap a
stopper over all. You're an uncommon smart man, Williams,--I won't deny
it--almost _too_ smart, it seems to me,--and you've just been talking
like this to give us an idee, as it were, of your smartness. You argufy
like a lawyer, shipmate, there's no mistake about that; but you can't
persuade me that you believe a single word of what you've been sayin'.
Why, man, if you hadn't already proved yourself to be the primest seaman
and the most willing hand aboard this here dandy little hooker I'm blest
if I shouldn't almost be inclined to believe you was a Socialist. Pah!"
and he spat contemptuously on the floor of the forecastle.

"There goes eight bells," he continued, "and on deck we goes, the
starboard watch. Whose wheel is it?"

CHAPTER THREE.

THE PLOTTER AT HIS WORK.

The little forecastle conclave made their way out on deck without
waiting for the formality of a call; and, there happening to be no sail-
trimming to attend to, and every prospect of a fine night, they made
themselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit under the
shelter of the bulwarks and elsewhere, excepting, of course, the man
whose trick at the wheel it was and the look-out, the latter of whom
stationed himself on the topgallant-forecastle, to windward, whilst the
former went aft. The men broke up into little knots, some to smoke,
some to chat, and some to snatch a cat-nap--if they could elude the
vigilance of the second-mate, which they had already discovered was no
very difficult achievement. The two apprentices in the watch were
keeping a look-out in the waist, the one to windward and the other to
leeward.

Williams and another man, named Rogers, lighted their pipes and settled
themselves on the lee side of the deck, just forward of the fore-
rigging, where they maintained a sort of perfunctory look-out on the
lee-bow whilst smoking and chatting.

"I say, Josh," began Rogers, in a low tone of voice, "don't you think
you pitche