t had deceived me; that,
and the unusual stage setting and costuming. Certainly few men would
work hard for eight months without a murmur, without a chance to look
about them.

In that, of course, I was deceived by my inexperience. I realised
later the wonderful effect Captain Selover threw away with his empty
brandy bottles. The crew might grumble and plot during the watch
below; but when Captain Ezra Selover said _work_, they worked.
He had been saying work, for eight months. They had, from force of
experience, obeyed him. It was all very simple.

IX

THE EMPTY BRANDY BOTTLE

So there I was at once deprived of my chief support. Although no
danger seemed imminent, nevertheless the necessity of acting on my
own initiative and responsibility oppressed me somewhat.

Truth to tell, after the first, I was more relieved than dismayed at
the captain's resolution to stay aboard. His drinking habit was
growing on him, and afloat or ashore he was now little more than a
figurehead, so that my chief asset as far as he was concerned, was
rather his reputation than his direct influence. In contact with the
men, I dreaded lest sooner or later he do something to lessen or
destroy the awe in which they held him.

Of course Dr. Schermerhorn had been mistaken in his man: A real
captain of men would have risen to circumstances wherever he found
them. But who could have foretold? Captain Selover had been a rascal
always, but a successful and courageous rascal. He had run desperate
chances, dominated desperate crews. Who could know that a crumble of
island beach and six months ashore would turn him into what he had
become? Yet I believe such cases are not uncommon in other walks of
life. A man and his work combine to mean something; yet both may be
absolutely useless when separated. It was the weak link----

I put in some time praying earnestly that the eyes of the crew might
be blinded, and that the doctor would finish his experiments before
the cauldron could boil up again.

My first act as real commander was to announce holiday. My idea was
that the island would keep the men busy for a while. Then I would
assign them more work to do. They proposed at once a tour into the
interior.

We started up the west coast. After three or four miles along a mesa
formation where often we had to circle long detours to avoid the
gullies, we came upon another short beach, and beyond it a series of
ledges on which basked several hundr