you swabs!" bellowed Coke. "D'ye want to let every
bally sojer on the island know where you are? We're makin' for the
creek. Will _that_ please you? Now, Mr. Norrie, let her rip!"

The head of the launch swung toward the protecting shadows. The men
knew the bearings of Cotton-Tree Bay, so the angry voices yielded to
selfish thought. If it was to be _sauve qui peut_ when the vessel
grounded, there was ample room for thought, seeing that each man's
probable fate would be that of a mad dog.

Hozier seized the precious respite. He spoke loudly enough that all
should hear, and he began with a rebuke.

"I am sorry that those of us who are left should have disgraced the
fine record set up by the _Andromeda's_ crew since the ship struck," he
said. "Your messmates who fell fighting would hardly believe St. Peter
himself if he told them that we were on the verge of open mutiny. I am
ashamed of you. Let us have no more of that sort of thing. Sink or
swim, we must pull together."

There was some discordant muttering, but he gained one outspoken
adherent.

"Bully for you!" said the man who had suggested tree-climbing as an
expedient.

"Shut up!" was the wrathful answer. "You've made plenty of row
already. I only hope you have not attracted attention on the island.
You may not have been heard, owing to the disturbance on the other
side, but no thanks to any of you for that. Our skipper's first notion
was to put to sea. Wasn't it natural? Do you want to be hunted over
Fernando Noronha at daybreak? But he would have seen the uselessness
of trying to slip the cruiser before the launch had gone a cable's
length. Now, here is a scheme that strikes me as workable. At any
rate, it offers a forlorn hope. There is a sharp bend in the creek
just where the tidal water ends. I fancy the launch will float a
little higher up, but we must risk it. We will take her in, unship the
mast, tie a few boughs and vines on the funnel, and not twenty
search-lights will find us."

A rumble of approving murmurs showed that he had scotched the dragon.
It was even ready to become subservient again. He continued rapidly:

"No vessel of deep draught can come close in shore from the east. The
cruiser will have the Grand-pere rock abeam within an hour, but, to
make sure, two of you will climb the ridge and watch her movements.
The rest will load up every available inch of space with wood and water
and food. How can we win clear of