less. How was you to know that a
great strong man, like he was, was goin' to stagger back and hit his
head again' the rail, same as he did? And he provoked you; all hands
'll bear witness to that; he shot at ye, and you was quite justified in
takin' his revolver away from him. Oh no, there'll be no puttin' of you
in irons so long as I'm skipper o' this brig. But of course I shall
have to make a hentry of the whole affair in the official log-book; and
now you'll have to go on with the brig to Valparaiso, whether or no, to
hear what the British Consul there have got to say about it."

"Certainly," assented Leslie, "I shall make no difficulty about that.
And I have not very much fear as to the result. But, as to Miss Trevor,
I hope you will seize the first suitable opportunity that occurs to
trans-ship her. She, poor girl, will now be more anxious than ever to
get away from this vessel."

"Yes, yes; of course she will," agreed Purchas. "And I suppose, Mr
Leslie," he continued, "you won't have any objections to continue
lending me a hand to work and navigate this brig? Now that the
skipper's gone I shall need help more'n ever."

"You may rely upon me, Mr Purchas, to do everything in my power to help
you," answered Leslie. "And now," he continued, "while you are making
the arrangements of which I just now spoke, I will go on deck and make
Miss Trevor acquainted with the news of our misfortune."

Miss Trevor received the news of Potter's demise with a few expressions
of well-bred regret, but she did not appear to be very greatly concerned
at the event. It could scarcely be otherwise. In the first place, she
had only been in the man's company a very few hours; and although he had
certainly picked her and Leslie up--thus saving them in all probability
from a lingering and painful death--he could scarcely have acted
otherwise, seeing that he had nothing to do but give orders for a few
rope's ends to be dropped over the side to them. Then, although she had
given no sign of it, his manner toward her had been such as to fill her
with vague fear; while his behaviour toward Leslie, when that individual
had unavailingly attempted to convince him of the presence of another
survivor upon the floating wreckage, was scarcely of a kind to inspire a
woman with confidence or respect.

By eight bells in the afternoon watch there was no longer room for doubt
that Potter was really dead; and this being the case, Purchas very
w