you may
trust me, providing I may trust you. What's to become of me when
you're out of the brig? That's it!'

"'You'll stay on board and do what you like with the vessel,' answered
Swallow. 'She'll be yours to have and hold. Make what you call a
salvage job of it, and your pickings, mister, 'ull be out and away
beyond the value of what we've been obliged to make you leave behind
you.'

"'Ain't that fair?' said a man.

"'Is my life safe?' said I.

"'Ay,' cried the Swallow, with a great oath, striking the table a
heavy blow with his clenched fist. 'Understand this and comfort
yourself. There's been no blood shed in this job, and there'll be
none, so help me God--you permitting, mister.'

"When this was said, a fellow, whom I afterwards heard called by the
name of Jim Davies, asked if I was willing to take an oath that I
would be honest. I said, 'Yes.' He stood up and dictated an oath full
of blasphemy, shocking with imprecations, and grossly illiterate. The
eyes of the crowd fastened upon me, and some of the ruffians watched
me in a scowling way with faces dark with suspicion, till I repeated
the horrid language of the man Davies, and swore, after which the
greater bulk of them went on deck.

"Swallow put some beef and biscuit on the table and a bottle of rum,
and bade me fall to. He told me to understand that I was captain of
the ship; that I was at liberty to appoint officers under me; and
that, though none of the convicts had been seafaring men, they had
learnt how the ropes led and how to furl canvas, and would obey any
orders for the common good which I might deliver. I ate and drank,
being determined to put the best face I could on this extraordinary
business, and asked for the captain's cabin, that I might find out
what nautical instruments the brig carried. Swallow, Stevenson, and a
convict named William Watts conducted me to a berth right aft on the
starboard side. They told me it had been occupied by the captain, and
should be mine. Here I found all I needed in the shape of navigating
instruments, and went on deck with Swallow and the others.

"I could see nothing of the _Swan_; she was out of sight from the
elevation of the brig's bulwarks. All the convicts were on deck, and
the brig looked full of men. Those who had been above whilst I was in
the cabin with the others, approached and stared at me, but not
insolently--merely with curiosity. They seemed a vile lot, one and
all. With some of them every