nd stock.
They looked at one another, and at the mates, with stupid, questioning
eyes; and one or two of them nodded in a puzzled way, and the Cape
Verders grinned with embarrassment. A New Englander drawled:

"Aye, sir. We've heard th' tale."

Joel nodded. "When my brother came aboard at Tubuai," he said quietly,
"he proposed that we go to this island.... I do not know its position--"

Mark drawled from across the deck: "You know as much as any man
aboard--myself excepted, Joel. It's my own secret, mind."

"He proposed that we go to this island," Joel pursued, "and that he and I
go ashore and get the pearls and say nothing about them."

Varde, at Joel's side, swung his head and looked bleakly at Mark Shore;
and one or two of the men murmured. Joel said quickly: "Don't
misunderstand. I'm not blaming him for that. You must not. The pearls are
his. He has a right to them....

"What I want you to know is that I refused to go with him and get them on
half shares. I could have had half, and refused....

"Now he has spread the story among you. And the mates say that I must go
with you all, and get the things."

He stopped, and the eyes of the men were on him; and one or two nodded,
and a voice here and there exclaimed in approval. Joel waited until they
were quiet again; then he said: "These--pearls--have cost life. At least
five men and a woman died in the getting of them. If we had them aboard
here, more of us would die; for none would be content with his share....

"It's in my mind that they'd bring blood aboard the _Nathan Ross_. And I
have no wish for that. But first--

"How many of you are for going after them?"

There was a murmur of assent from many throats; and Joel looked from man
to man. "Most of you, at least," he said. "Is there any man against
going?"

There may have been, but no man spoke; and over Joel's face passed a
weary little shadow of pain. For a long moment he stood in the sun,
studying them; and they saw his lips were white. Then he said quietly:

"You shall not go. The _Nathan Ross_ goes on about her proper matters.
The pearls stay where they are."

He shifted his weight, looked quickly toward his brother.... He was
poised for battle. By the very force of his word, there was a chance he
might prevail. He watched the men, in whose hands the answer lay. If he
could hold them....

Hands clamped his arms, and Mark smiled across the deck. Finch and old
Hooper on one side, Varde and Morrel