t, and, as the captain says, it is
astonishing what little things upset sailors' minds. They might take it
into their head that as you got two hundred pounds in that hut there might
be a lot more, and they would be wanting to land and to turn the village
upside down, and there would be bloodshed and all sorts of trouble. The
old saying, 'Least said, soonest mended', comes in here strongly. We have,
so far, got on very well with the natives this voyage, and I hope that we
shall continue to do so to the end. I quite allow that we should all of us
be glad to give a sharp lesson to that village ashore. They have been
plundering, and I have no doubt murdering, the crew of some ship. Still,
we have no evidence of that, and we can't attack the village on mere
supposition. They have been friendly enough with us, partly because we
have been here before, and the captain gets on well with them, but more
because they are perfectly well aware that we are always on guard, and
that there is no chance whatever of their catching us asleep. In nine
cases out of ten it is the carelessness and over-confidence of sailors
that tempt the natives to take advantage of it; they would never have
shown you these things if they had had any idea of attacking us."

Next morning the operation of filling up the water-tanks was completed,
and at noon the orders were given to weigh anchor. Steve saw how rightly
the captain had foreseen what was likely to happen, for no sooner was the
order given than two of the men came aft as a deputation from the crew.

"What is it, lads?" he asked.

"Well, captain, the boat's crew that went ashore yesterday came off with a
lot of togs that must, in course, have been taken from some seaman's
chest. Now, it seems to us as that chest could not have been there by fair
means, and that, like enough, they had been murdering and looting some
vessel here; and, for aught we know, the place may be full of plunder of
some sort or another, and that, may be, there are twenty or thirty other
seamen's chests there, and other goods. It seems to us, sir, that these
chaps ought to be punished, and that we should try to get as much of the
plunder they have got hidden as we can; therefore, the crew beg that you
will sanction our going ashore and tackling them."

"No, lads, I can't sanction that," the captain said. "It is true that Mr.
Embleton was offered by one of their chiefs some chronometers and the
contents of a sea-chest. He bough