lie in
it, though I believe it is bad taste to refer to hanging in this
company. _I_ didn't start a little mutiny. _I_ didn't murder as good a
mate as any seaman could ask for. It isn't _my_ fault that a round half
dozen of you are dead and gone to feed the fishes."

Higgins groaned lugubriously. Neidlinger shifted his feet uneasily. Not
one of them but was impressed.

Harry Fleming glanced at his brother, cleared his throat, and spoke up.

"Mr. Sedgwick, spit it out. What have you to offer? Will Captain Blythe
let this be a bygone if we return to duty? That's what we want to know.
If not, we've got to fight it out. A blind man could see that."

I told them the truth, that I had no authority to speak for Blythe. He
would probably think it his duty to give them up to the authorities if
they were still on board when we reached Panama.

It was pitiful to see how they clutched at every straw of hope.

"Well, sir, what do you mean by that if? Will he stand back and let us
escape?"

"All of you but Bothwell. Mind, I don't promise this. Why not send a
deputation to the captain and ask for terms?"

Higgins slapped his fat thigh.

"By crikey, 'e's said it. A delegation to the captain. That's the
bloomin' ticket."

Pat to his suggestion came an unexpected and startling answer.

"Fortunately it won't be necessary to send the delegation, since your
captain has come down to join you."

The voice was Bothwell's; so, too, were the ironic insolence, the
sardonic smile, the air of contemptuous mastery that sat so lightly on
him. He might be the greatest scoundrel unhanged--and that was a point
upon which I had a decided opinion--but I shall never deny that there
was in him the magnetic force which made him a leader of men.

Immediately I recognized defeat for my attempt to end the mutiny at a
stroke. His very presence was an inspiration to persistence in evil. For
though he had brought them nothing but disaster, the fellow had a way of
impressing himself without appearing to care whether he did or not.

The careless contempt of his glance emphasized the difference between
him and them. He was their master, though a fortnight before none of
them had ever seen Bothwell. They feared and accepted his leadership,
even while they distrusted him.

The men seemed visibly to stiffen. Instead of beseeching looks I got
threatening ones. Three minutes before I had been dictator; now I was a
prisoner, and if I could read signs one