rows closely, and his nostrils heaved, while the
blue eyes were fired with sudden flame. If he had ideas on democracy,
as reports of him had declared, he had also beyond question the temper
of the martinet. It was possible, no doubt, to recognise these strange
contradictions, but at the first sight it seemed difficult. I had yet
to learn that I was dealing with a type of the fanatic, and a
representative of that type, moreover, who exemplified in his blood the
fatalism of his ascendants. Yet the glimpse I had of the man was
interesting. I began to understand him, and even to sympathise with
him. He had foregone much for the sake of an ideal, and that was
something. But just then I should like to have known exactly what his
sister's attitude to that ideal might be. For Princess Alix, strange as
her brother was, was even more baffling than he.

Though we kept a rigid watch all that day and night, no attack was
delivered, and I began once again to speculate as to Holgate's policy.
Was he trying to tire us out before he made his assault, or had he
other ends in view? The second day passed as tranquilly as the first,
and the yacht was still making her best southward. She had passed the
mouth of the Rio La Plata, and was forging along the Argentine coast,
bound for--we knew not whither. Her destination was in other hands, and
we must be content to abide the issues, alert and equipped for any
emergency.

On the second day I revisited the forecastle, with my flag, and found
Holgate as amiable as before.

"You give me your word, doctor, that you have no weapons?" said he,
when I had attended to his wounded men, and was proceeding to the hold
where the prisoners lay.

"I give you my word," I replied.

He nodded, and gave orders for the removal of the hatch; and down I
went, this time unaccompanied. Legrand still lay on his back, staring
vacantly, and the sailors were grouped about, a despondent company, in
that dark and stuffy hole.

"Any improvement?" said I to one of them.

"Not much, sir," said he, with a glance towards the open hatchway,
where, no doubt, one of the mutineers stood on guard.

"Does Mr. Legrand take any nourishment?" I asked.

"A bit, sir, but not too much. He doesn't seem to relish his food," the
man answered.

"Does he talk?" I asked.

"He has spoken about a dozen sentences, sir, but there don't seem much
sense in them."

"Ah, I feared as much," I said. I was certain that Holgate, for all his