ood luck for us, he meets with bad weather, and
they all go to the bottom. That's one chance in our favour."

"His boat is certainly very deep," said Hendry musingly, as he nervously
stroked his long beard.

"She is; but then she has a kanaka crew, and I never yet heard of a
drowned kanaka, any more than I've heard of a dead donkey. With a
white crew she would stand to run some heavy risks in bad weather, with
kanakas she'd keep afloat anyhow."

Hendry uttered an oath, and tugged at his beard savagely. "Go on, go on,
then. Don't keep harping on the pros and cons."

"Take another drink, man. Don't behave like a fretful child. Curse it
all! To think of us being euchred so easily by Carr and Atkins! Why,
they must have half a boat load of Winchester and Sniders, judging by
the way they were firing.... There, drink that, Louis. Oh, if we had
had but a couple of those long trade Sniders out of the trade-room!" He
struck his clenched fist upon the thwart. "We could have kept our own
distance from the second mate, and finished him and his crowd as easily
as we did the others."

"Well, we didn't have them," said the captain gloomily; "and if we had
thought of getting them, we were neither of us able to stand on our feet
after the mauling we got on board."

Chard drank some more rum, and went on smoking in silence for a few
moments; then he resumed:

"You have a wife and family and property in Sydney, and I feel sorry
for you, Louis, by God, I do. But for you to think of going there again
means certain death, as certain for you as it is for me. But this is
what we _can_ do. We have a good boat, and well found, and can steer
for the Admiralty Group, where we are dead sure to meet with some of the
sperm whalers. From there we can get a passage to Manila, and at Manila
you can write to your wife and fix up your future. Get her to sell your
house and property quietly, and come and join you there. I daresay," he
laughed mockingly, "she'll know by the time she gets your letter that
you're not likely to go to Sydney to bring her. And then of course none
of her and your friends will think it strange that she should leave
Sydney, where your name and mine will be pretty notorious. There's two
Dutch mail boats running to Manila from Sydney--the _Atjeh_ and the
_Generaal Pel_. In six months' time, after Atkins and Carr get to
Sydney, the _Motutapu_ affair will be forgotten, and you and your family
can settle down under a new name in