it, you can do _anything_!
Now, you don't think it likely that a man who could do anything is going
to wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking hold of a rat-gutted,
beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a China coaster? No, sir, such a man
will look after himself, and will look after his chums. You may lay to
that! You hold on to him, and you may kiss the Book that he'll haul you
through.'

"That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant nothing,
but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in with all
possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really was a plot to
gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners had hatched it
before they came aboard; Prendergast was the leader, and his money was
the motive power.

"'I'd a partner,' said he, 'a rare good man, as true as a stock to a
barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you think he is at this
moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship--the chaplain, no less! He
came aboard with a black coat and his papers right, and money enough in
his box to buy the thing right up from keel to main-truck. The crew are
his, body and soul. He could buy 'em at so much a gross with a cash
discount, and he did it before ever they signed on. He's got two of the
warders and Mercer the second mate, and he'd get the captain himself if
he thought him worth it.'

"'What are we to do, then?' I asked.

"'What do you think?' said he. 'We'll make the coats of some of these
soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.'

"'But they are armed,' said I.

"'And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every
mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at
our back, it's time we were all sent to a young Miss's boarding school.
You speak to your mate on the left to-night, and see if he is to be
trusted.'

[Illustration: JACK PRENDERGAST.]

"I did so, and found my other neighbour to be a young fellow in much the
same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name was
Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a rich
and prosperous man in the South of England. He was ready enough to join
the conspiracy, as the only means of, saving ourselves, and before we
had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners who were not in
the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust
him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and could not be of any
use to us.