king our wills--which we did
when we found the space at our disposal getting scant, although I had
little enough to give or bequeath, chiefly a pair of Chinese jingals and
a good pair of riding-boots with silver spurs.

It took a deal of time, for I wrote in the smallest possible characters,
and was careful to make them legible--no small task, considering that the
vessel was still rolling and pitching, although it grew calmer toward
morning.

We did not have any method of measuring the time, for no bells were
struck--at least, none that we heard--and Captain Riggs did not have his
watch with him, for he had not been back to his cabin from the time I saw
him leave it with Harris to explore the mysterious cargo in the
storeroom.

As I wrote I was hammering my brains for some solution of the problem
before us; for, although I took pains to make the story complete, I was
hoping that Captain Riggs would finally hit upon some scheme which would
release us from the forecastle and give an opportunity to do battle with
our captors.

I took a measure of pride in writing the story, too, for I knew there was
a good chance that it might be my last, and I had visions of it being
printed in the newspapers some day.

"I'll cut a little pennant from Rajah's _sarong_," said Riggs with a
grin, and he reached up to the sleeping boy and hacked off a bit of his
skirtlike garb. "We'll make a fancy job of it, Mr. Trenholm, while we're
at it. The backs of those sheets, with the stamps and postmarks and the
address to me, will be good proof that it is not a hoax.

"Folks don't put much stock in bottles washed up by the sea these days,
and we'll have to offer a reward for having it forwarded, say to my son,
and then he'll be sure. I guess he'd give a hundred dollars to know what
become of his old daddy--and the girl, too. Put that in, Mr. Trenholm."

"And I'll put in as a sort of P.S. that Captain Riggs intends to make a
fight for his ship as soon as he has signed this," I said.

"You better not put that in," he said wearily. "It ain't so, and I'm
something of a churchman, even if it was only to please the wife. I'm no
hypocrite, and I don't want to have anything in that sounds like a brag.
Just sign it and let it go at that."

"No, I'll put that in," I insisted, looking at him seriously. "I won't
have them say after getting this that you gave up and took your fate too
easily, which they might. You have been a fighter all your life, and