enty of "liquor," and the captain occasionally got drunk,
and each time that he did so, the influence of the mate seemed riveted
firmer than before. Crews are often divided in their allegiance, but the
crew of the _Water-Lily_ were of one mind. From the oldest to the
youngest we all detested the mate, and a natural manliness of feeling
made us like the captain better than we ought otherwise have done,
because (especially as regards the drinking) we considered his relations
with the mate to be characterized by anything but "fair play." No love
was really lost between them, and if the captain came on deck and took
the lead, they were almost certain to quarrel (and none the less so,
that _we_ rushed with alacrity to obey the captain's orders, whereas
with the mate's it was all "dragging work," as nearly as we dare show
unwillingness).

What led to the extraordinary scene I am about to relate, I do not quite
know. I suppose a mixture of things. Alister's minute, unbroken study of
what was now his profession, the "almost monotonous" (so Dennis said)
perseverance with which he improved every opportunity, and absorbed all
experience and information on the subject of seamanship, could hardly
escape the notice of any intelligent captain. Our captain was not much
of a seaman, but he was a cute trader, and knew "a good article" in any
line. The Scotch boy was soon a better sailor than the mate, which will
be the less surprising, when one remembers how few men in any trade
give more than about a third of their real powers to their work--and
Alister gave all his. This, and the knowledge that he was supported by
the public opinion of a small but able-bodied crew, may have screwed the
captain's courage to the sticking-point, or the mate may have pushed
matters just too far; what happened was this:

The captain and the mate had a worse quarrel than usual, after which the
mate rope's-ended poor Pedro till the lad lost consciousness, and whilst
I was comforting him below, the brute fumed up and down deck like a
hyena ("sight o' blood all same as drink to the likes of him," said
Alfonso, "make he drunk for more")--and vented some of his rage in abuse
of the captain, such as we had often heard, but which no one had ever
ventured to report. On this occasion Alfonso did report it. As I have
said, I only knew results.

At eight o'clock next morning all hands were called aft.

The captain was quite sober, and he made very short work of it.