drunk, he would have died where he lay if
I had not loosed his handkerchief."

"I am sorry to hear that, sir; but he was sober when I left him. The fool
must have got to the bottle the moment I was gone."

"But that bottle you put in his way; I saw you. And what was your object?
To deaden his conscience with liquor, his and your own, while you made
him your fiendish proposal. Man, man, do you believe in God, and in a
judgment to come for the deeds done in the body, that you can plan in
cold blood to destroy a vessel with nineteen souls on board, besides the
live stock, the innocent animals that God pitied and spared when he
raised his hand in wrath over Nineveh of old?"

While the clergyman was speaking, with flashing eyes and commanding
voice, the seaman turned ashy pale, and drew his shoulders together like
a cat preparing to defend her life.

"I plan to destroy a vessel, sir! You never heard me say such a word; and
don't you hint such a thing in the ship, or you will get yourself into
trouble."

"That depends on you."

"How so, sir?"

"I have long suspected you."

"You need not tell me that, sir."

"But I have not communicated my suspicions. And now that they are
certainties, I come first to you. In one word, will you forego your
intention, since it is found out?"

"How can I forego what never was in my head?" said Wylie. "Cast away the
ship! Why, there's no land within two thousand miles. Founder a vessel in
the Pacific! Do you think my life is not as sweet to me as yours is to
you?"

Wylie eyed him keenly to see the effect of these words, and, by a puzzled
expression that came over his face, saw at once he had assumed a more
exact knowledge than he really possessed.

Hazel replied that he had said nothing about foundering the ship; but
there were many ways of destroying one. "For instance," said he, "I know
how the _Neptune_ was destroyed--and so do you; how the _Rose_ and the
_Antelope_ were cast away--and so do you."

At this enumeration Wylie lost his color and self-possession for a
moment; he saw Hazel had been listening. Hazel followed up his blow.
"Promise me now, by all you hold sacred, to forego this villainy; and I
hold my tongue. Attempt to defy me, or to throw dust in my eyes, and I go
instantly among the crew, and denounce both you and Hudson to them."

"Good Heavens!" cried Wylie, in unfeigned terror. "Why, the men would
mutiny on the spot."

"I can't help that," said Hazel, firmly;