no more from them. In the next place--"

"Pardon me for interrupting you," broke in my companion with an
indulgent smile and uplifted, protesting hand; "but I believe I know and
could repeat to you every one of the somewhat musty arguments which are
crowding each other upon the tip of your tongue; and it will perhaps
save time--and possibly a certain amount of unpleasant friction--if I
inform you at once--as indeed I have hinted to you already--that we have
given them all our most careful and exhaustive consideration, and have
quite settled among ourselves that none of them is anything like weighty
enough to divert us from our purpose. We know, for example, that the
appropriation of this ship and her cargo, in the carrying out of our
plans, will involve a certain amount of hardship and loss to the owners;
but no revolutionary scheme of any sort, great or small, was ever yet
carried into effect without inflicting loss and hardship upon somebody.
It would pass the wit of man to devise one that did not, and we are
therefore prepared to regard that phase of the question with perfect
complacency."

"I wonder whether you understand that what you contemplate is called
piracy, and is punishable with death?" said I.

"Of course we do, my dear young friend," answered Wilde with a smile.
"But perhaps I ought to have explained to you that the very root and
foundation of our plan is to escape from man-made laws, which are
compounded of tyranny and injustice of the grossest kind, and to revert
to the old, simple, patriarchal, family idea--the idea of holding all
things in common, of abolishing individualism and inequality of every
description, and of submitting only to such simple laws as are
manifestly for the benefit and advantage of all. Besides, who will
there be to punish us for our so-called act of piracy?"

"You may rest assured," said I, "that there is no spot on this globe so
remote, so hidden away, that a British cruiser will not find it sooner
or later; and when she happens to visit your island--if ever you reach
it--her captain will insist upon an explanation of how you come to be
there, and, in short, of having your whole story told to him. And then,
Mr Wilde, the days of the originator of this mad scheme will be
numbered."

"My dear boy," said Wilde, laying his hand soothingly upon my arm, "`the
originator of this mad scheme', as you are pleased to put it, is more
than willing to take his chance of such a happ