r sunrise on the following morning, the
emigrants once more made their appearance on deck in holiday attire, all
impatient for the moment to arrive when the boats should be brought to
the gangway to convey them to those green and bosky glades, which had
spread themselves so alluringly before their gaze for the preceding
forty-eight hours. So eager were they that it was only with the utmost
difficulty we were able to persuade them to go below again, until the
crew had had time to wash decks and perform the ship's toilet for the
day. My determination not to forgo this daily duty drew from Wilde an
acrimonious remonstrance; but his objections were promptly overruled by
Polson and Tudsbery, who, I now discovered, to my great satisfaction,
were, with most of the crew, disposed still to leave all matters
strictly pertaining to the ship, and her rule and governance, entirely
in my hands.

"Wilde don't know nothin' about a ship, Mr Troubridge--how should he?"
explained Polson to me; "and if he was let to have his way he might
start pullin' of her to pieces for the sake of her timber and metal."

"As likely as not he would," said I. "But you men must never permit
that, Polson; at least, not for some time to come. There are a dozen
ways in which she may yet be found eminently useful. For instance,
beautiful and altogether suitable as this island appears for your
purpose, who is to say that it does not possess some subtle peculiarity
of climate rendering it unfit for the abode of Europeans; and what sort
of condition would you be in if such should prove to be the case, and
you had no ship to which to retreat, and in which to seek another
island?"

"Very true, sir," cut in the carpenter. "I hadn't thought of that; but
there's the chance of it, all the same, now that you comes to mention
it."

As a matter of fact, however, it was not the above reason that
influenced me in the least in my desire to ensure the preservation of
the ship, for, although I had mentioned it, I did not for a moment
believe that the contingency would ever arise; but, like Grace Hartley
and Gurney, I had long since subjected Wilde's theories to careful
examination, and decided that there was nothing in them to satisfy a man
possessed of a healthy ambition to make his mark in the world; I
therefore wanted to keep open for myself a way of escape; and no better
way could possibly be afforded than by the ship.

By one bell in the forenoon watch--half-p