's against
ye; an' in all cases o' the kind, wheresomever I've seed 'em, the
majority means the right. Besides, in this partickler case we're askin'
no moren' what's right--refarrin' to the job afore us. I'm willin' to
conceed, that you Spanish chaps hev hed most to do wi' the first
plannin' o' the thing; as alser, that ye brought the rest o' us into it.
But what signify the bringin' in compared wi' the gettin' out? In sich
scrapes, 'taint the beginnin' but the eend as is dangersome. An' we've
all got to unnergo that danger; the which I needn't particklarly speak
o', as every man o' ye must feel it 'bout the nape o' his neck, seein'
the risk he'll hev to run o' gettin' that streetched. It's eequil all
roun', and tharfor the reward for runnin' it shed be eequil too. So say
Jack Striker."

"So I, and I, and I," echo the others; all save Padilla and Velarde, who
remain silent and scowling.

"Yis," continues Striker, "an' theer be one who 'ant present among us,
as oughter have his share too. I don't mean either Mr Gomez or
Hernandez. Them two shud be contented, seein' as they're more after the
weemen than the money, an' nobody as I know o' carin' to cut 'em out
there. It's true him I refer to hez come into the thing at the 'leventh
hour, as ye may say--after 'twar all planned. But he mote a gied us
trouble by stannin' apart. Tharfore, I say, let's take him in on shares
wi' the rest."

"Whom are you speaking of?" demands Padilla.

"I needn't tell ye," responds the senior of the Sydney Ducks! "If I
an't mistook, that's him a comin' down, an' he can speak for hisself."

At the words, a footstep is heard upon the forecastle stair. A pair of
legs is seen descending; after them a body--the body of Harry Blew!

Padilla looks scared; Velarde the same. Both fancy their conspiracy
discovered, their scheme blown; and that Striker, with all his talk, has
been misleading them. They almost believe they are to be set upon and
put in irons; and that for this very purpose the first officer is
entering the forecastle.

They are soon undeceived, however, on hearing what he has to say.
Striker draws it out, repeating the conversation passed, and the demand
he has been making.

Thus Harry Blew gives rejoinder:

"I'm with ye, shipmates, to the end, be that sweet or bitter. Striker
talks straight, an' his seems the only fair way of settlin' the
question. The majority must decide. There's two not here, an' they've
got