t his head," snorted old Slade. "Couldn't you ha' fixed up a
better yarn than that? What are you snivellin' at? D'ye think yer the
only man 'as ever stove in a mate's head--an' him a murderin'
mandriver? Keep them tales for the Old Man; he believes 'em
seemingly; but don't you come them on me."

Conroy was moaning. "I never touched him; I never touched him!"

"Never touched him! Here, take the pin; it's yours!"

He shrank from it. "No, no!"

Slade pitched it to his bunk, where it lay on the blanket. "It's
yours," he repeated. "If yer don't want it, heave it overboard
yerself or stick it back in the rail. Never touched him--you make me
sick with yer never touched him!"

The door slammed on his scornful retreat; Conroy shuddered and sat
up. The iron belaying-pin lay where it had fallen, on his bed, and
even in that meager light it carried the traces of its part in the
mate's death. It had the look of a weapon rather than of a humble
ship-fitting. It rolled a couple of inches where it lay as the ship
leaned to a gust, and he saw that it left a mark where it had been, a
stain.

He seized it in a panic and started for the door to be rid of it at
once.

As if a malicious fate made him its toy, he ran full into the Greek
outside.

"Ah!" The man's smile flashed forth, wise and livid. "An' so you 'ad
it in your pocket all de time, den!"

Conroy answered nothing. It was beyond striving against. He walked to
the rail and flung the thing forth with hysterical violence to the
sea.

The watch going below at four o'clock found him apparently asleep,
with his face turned to the wall. They spoke in undertones, as though
they feared to disturb him, but none of them mentioned the only
matter which all had in mind. They climbed heavily to their bunks,
there to smoke the brief pipe, and then to slumber. Only Slade, who
slept little, would from time to time lean up on one elbow to look
down and across to the still figure which hid its face throughout the
night.

Conroy woke when the watch was called for breakfast by a man who
thrust his head in and shouted. He had slept at last, and now as he
sat up it needed an effort of mind to recall his trouble. He looked
out at his mates, who stood about the place pulling on their clothes,
with sleep still heavy on them. They seemed as usual. It was his turn
to fetch the coffee from the galley, he remembered, and he slipped
out of his bunk to dress and attend to it.

"I won't be a minu