e blameless; they would never dream of
holding her in the least degree responsible for the theft of the ship
and cargo; nor do I believe they would be very hard upon me, seeing that
Wilde and the rest compelled me to fall in with their plans. And as for
yourself, the fact that you had assisted me to restore the ship to her
proper owners would probably be accepted as a set-off against your share
of the crime of stealing the ship, especially in view of the fact that
we had brought in a cargo of sandalwood in place of the much less
valuable cargo which the settlers have appropriated. Now, what do you
think of it?"

"Well," answered Gurney slowly, as he turned my plan over in his mind,
"the proposal that two men and a girl shall attempt to navigate a ship
of eight hundred tons from here to Sydney--a matter of four thousand
miles or more, I suppose--has certainly, as you say, more than a
suggestion of madness about it. Yet I believe that we could do it, Mr
Troubridge--I was in Plymouth Sound, a trifle over two years ago, when a
ship nearly as big as the _Mercury_ came in. She was from Rio; and the
second mate, an apprentice, and one ordinary seaman comprised the whole
of her crew. She sailed from Rio with her full complement; and when she
was only three days at sea an outbreak of yellow fever occurred aboard
her. First one, and then another, and another of her crew was struck
down; but the skipper would not put back. He had a fair wind, and he
insisted that the men's best chance of shaking off the fever lay in
keeping the ship at sea. And they did so, although the men continued to
die until, by the time that they reached the latitude of the Azores,
only the three I have named remained alive. Meanwhile, as the crew
dwindled and the ship became short-handed, they snugged her down until
at last they had nothing set but the close-reefed fore and main topsails
and the fore topmast staysail, and under that canvas she entered the
Sound, hove-to, and signalled for assistance. Oh yes, I am sure we
could do it, provided, of course, that we kept our health; and we should
have to take our chance of that. It would be hard work, certainly, but
there are two of us, both fairly strong, and--as the second mate of that
ship I told you of answered, when he was asked how they managed--one can
do a lot of work with a tackle or two. And as to how the authorities
might be disposed to regard my share of the stealing of the ship, I
would