put the thought in the
Dutchman's head that something might possibly happen to me while we were
at sea. Certainly the experience had already befallen him once since
the commencement of the voyage; but with men of such limited
intelligence as that of Van Ryn and Svorenssen even such an experience
as that usually makes so very transitory an impression that it soon
fades. Moreover, the difficulty had been surmounted, and they would
naturally believe that, should it again arise, it could again be
surmounted in the same way. The only reason that I could think of why
such an idea should have taken so strong a hold upon the Dutchman's mind
was that, _under certain circumstances_, the eventuality of which he had
spoken might be very much more than possible: _it might be inevitable_.

Reasoning thus, I next asked myself the question: Should anything happen
to me--should I, for instance, _die_, either aboard the cutter or before
leaving the islands--how would my death affect the fortunes of those two
men, Svorenssen and Van Ryn, to say nothing of that of Billy? And why
should it be desired to get rid of me?

Those were not difficult questions to answer. In either of the above
hypothetical cases the boy would be absolutely in the power and at the
mercy of the two men; and I shuddered to think of what would happen to
him, with me out of the way. Svorenssen and Van Ryn were both big
powerful men, and, should they resort to violence, what could a boy do
by way of resisting them? Then the cutter was now so far advanced that,
at a pinch, the two seamen could complete her, launch her, and make her
ready for sea without my assistance. Their escape from the group was
therefore in any case assured; while, so far as the navigation of the
craft was concerned, they had already wormed out of Billy the
information that he was competent to undertake that.

But if the two seamen were actually conspiring against me, as I now
began to think was at least probable, their primary object would
doubtless be to secure the whole of the treasure for themselves. They
doubtless recognised that so long as I--a man as powerful as either of
them, with a mind already tinctured with suspicion of them--lived, to
attempt to secure more than their fair share of the treasure might be
both difficult and dangerous, and possibly even result in failure. But
with me effectually disposed of the enterprise would wear a totally
different aspect. They would comp