he brig."

The mate considered for a moment. Then--

"All right," he said, "I'll take upon myself the responsibility of
agreein' to that. The skipper'll be madder than ever when he finds out
what we've done; but I don't care for that, I'm not goin' to leave a
feller-creature to die on no wreckage, if I can help it. And if the
skipper makes a fuss about it, the authorities at home 'll bear me out."

"Of course they will," assented Leslie. "And now that we have settled
that point, the sooner a start is made the better. So please call for
four volunteers to go with me in the boat, and I'll be off."

Then, while Purchas went forward to muster a boat's crew, Leslie walked
over to where Miss Trevor stood.

"Oh, Mr Leslie," she exclaimed, "what a _dreadful_ man the captain of
this ship is! Is he mad; or what is it that makes him behave in so
horribly violent a manner?"

"Simply overweening conceit of himself, and an enormously exaggerated
opinion of his own importance as master of this ridiculous little brig;
together with, perhaps, an unusually violent and ungovernable temper, I
imagine," answered Leslie, with a smile. "I am afraid," he continued,
"that those mad antics of his with his revolver must have been rather
terrifying to you. However, that sort of thing will not occur again--
unless he happens to have another of them--for I have the weapon now,
and intend to retain possession of it until we are able to take our
leave of him, which I hope will be ere long. Meanwhile, I am going away
in a boat, for about half an hour, to take a man--or, it may be, a
woman--off that wreckage that we were trying to reach this morning when
we sighted this brig. It is still quite close at hand, and I shall not
be gone very long. And during my absence Purchas will look after you
and see that you come to no harm. He is a good fellow, in his way, and
will not allow our mad friend to interfere with you."

"Thank you," she answered, with a shade of the old hauteur in the tones
of her voice; "I am not in the least afraid. Mad though the man may be,
I do not think he will attempt to molest me."

"No," acknowledged Leslie, who had not failed to observe Potter's
undisguised admiration of the girl, "to be perfectly frank with you, I
do not think he will. Ah, here come the men who are going with me in
the boat. I must say _au revoir_!"

"Good-bye, for the present," answered Miss Trevor; "I hope you will be
successful."

"No