evidently forgotten in
action. Watkins kept after them like a slave driver.

"That's the style; throw all the litter overboard. Bend your back,
Pierre; now Ole, take hold here. What the hell are you men loafing
for? Now, heave altogether."

I glanced astern, catching a fleeting glimpse beneath the main boom,
of the disappearing quarter-boat, bobbing up and down in the
distance; then my eyes sought the face of the girl. She met my gaze
with a smile.

"They are all right now, are they not?" she asked.

"Yes, as long as they can be kept busy, and I will see to that. Let's
go aft, and get out of this mess. I want to plan our voyage."

It was not difficult finding plenty for the lads to do, making the
neglected schooner shipshape, and adjusting the spread of canvas aloft
to the new course I decided upon. Fortunately we had men enough to
manipulate the sails, real seamen, able to work swiftly. Sam started a
fire in the galley, and prepared a hot meal, singing as he worked, and
before noon I had as cheerful a ship's crew forward as any man could
possibly ask for. The weather kept pleasant, but with a heavy wind
blowing, compelling us to take a reef in the canvas, but the schooner
was an excellent sea boat, and all alike felt the exhilaration of
rapid progress. Dorothy and I glanced over the log, but gained little
information. The vessel had been driven into the northwest by a
succession of storms, and lack of provisions had weakened the crew,
cholera broke out among them the third day at sea, the first victim
being the cabin steward. With no medicine chest aboard and everything
below foul, the disease spread rapidly. Within twenty-four hours
sixteen bodies were thrown overboard and, in their terror, the
remainder of the crew mutinied, and refused to work ship. Both mates
died, and finally only three men were left alive--a negro known as
Juan; the quarter-master, Gabriel Lossier, and the Captain, who was
already lying sick and helpless in the cabin. That was the last entry
barely decipherable.

As the sun reached the meridian I ventured again into the cabin, and
returned with the necessary instruments to determine our position.
With these and the pricked chart, I managed fairly well in determining
our location, and choosing the most direct course toward the coast.
Dorothy watched closely, and when I looked up from the paper, the men
were gathered about the open door of the galley, equally interested. I
ordered Watkins