a small company, and not easily divided. The
will of the majority may easily become that of all, may easily be
applied.

"Payment for all services comes on this voyage from an uncertain amount
of gold that Nature, Mother of us all, and therefore intending that all
her children shall share her heritage, has washed up on a beach from
some deep-sea vein and thus deposited upon an uncharted, unclaimed
island. It is discovered by an Indian, the discovery is handed on to
another."

"Meanin' me." Lund seemed to be enjoying himself. Despite the fact that
Carlsen was presiding and most evidently assumed the attributes of
leader, despite the fact that ten of the twelve at the table were
arrayed against him, with the rest of the seamen behind them, Lund was
decidedly enjoying himself.

To Rainey, the matter of the gold was but a mask for the license that
would inevitably be manifested in such a crude democracy if it was
established, a license that threatened the girl, now, he imagined,
watching her father, the captain of the vessel, tottering on the verge
of death. His pulses raced, he longed for the climax.

"This gold," went on Carlsen, "is not a commodity made in a factory,
obtained through the toil of others, through the expenditure of
capital. If it were, it would not alter the principle of the thing. It
is of nature's own providing for those of her sons who shall find it and
gather it. Sons that, as brothers, must willingly share and share
alike."

Lund yawned, showing his strong teeth and the red cavern of his mouth.
The hunters gazed at him curiously. The seamen, lacking initiative,
lacking imagination, a crude collection of water-front drifters, more or
less wrecked specimens of humanity who went to sea because they had no
other capacity--were apathetic, listening to Carlsen with a sort of awe,
a hypnosis before his argument that street rabble exhibit before the
jargon of a soap-box orator.

Carlsen promised them something, therefore they followed him. But the
hunters, more independent, more intelligent, seemed expecting an
outburst from Lund and, because it was not forthcoming, they were a
little uneasy.

"Share and share alike," said Lund. "I've got yore drift, Carlsen. Let's
get down to brass tacks. The idea is to divvy the gold into equal
parts, ain't it? How does she split? There's twenty-five souls aboard.
Does that mean you split the heap into a hundred parts an' each one gits
four?"

"No." It was Demin