urned to deal
with the stoker.

"'Well, I'd like to have you here aboard,' said the skipper.
'But so's best. We want some brains in No. 2 boat; and, between
ourselves, Grimalson hasn't the brains of a hare. He's a
second-cousin-twice-removed of one of our directors. He's no seaman
at all; and his navigation's all a pretence. . . . I suppose, now,
_you_ can't navigate?'

"'Good Lord, no, sir!' said I. 'I just understand the principles of
it--that's all.'

"'It's a damned sight more than Grimalson understands, I'll bet,'
responded Captain Macnaughten, studying the binnacle and speaking as
though we were discussing the weather and the crops. 'You may push
your finger into that man anywhere, he's that soft and boggy--no
better'n slush--_and_ pink. . . . Don't you despise a pink-coloured
man? Still, I want you to understand, Doctor, that he's the superior
officer on No. 2, for the time being.'

"'I understand,' said I, looking up from my business of unguenting
the stoker, who was not badly burnt.

"'But if Grimalson should turn rotten. . . . Well, now, I've had an
eye on you, sir, and I judge I can share off on you a bit of trouble
I wouldn't share off on most. . . . _You_ must know as well as I do
that the chance is pretty thin for us all, even if this weather
holds. I reckon there's no nearer land than Easter Island, four
hundred good miles norr'ard, and a beat in light winds. . . . I've
heard too much about long beats in open boats--heard enough to make
the flesh creep. Anyways, I'm responsible. I've turned it over in
my head: and I'm giving orders--you take me? We're not steering for
any land at all. We're steering the shortest way, due south--what
wind there is drawing behind us--on the chance to hit in with the way
of traffic--Sydney ships making round the Horn. . . . You'll not
argue that, I hope?" he demanded.

"'On the contrary, sir,' I agreed, 'I just know enough to be sure
that you are doing the wisest thing.'

"'Nobody but God can be sure,' said he, and sat musing. 'Well, I
take the responsibility God has seen fit to lay on me of a sudden.
You won't hear me speak of this again: but you're an educated man,
and you've nerve as well as brains--I marked ye by the head of the
ladder, when the first boat was getting out. I reckoned you for one
that doesn't speak out of his turn; and it came over me, just now,
that I'd like one such man, and him a gentleman, to bear in mind that
if I set my face