, Polson?" I asked.

"I dunno, sir," he answered. "I tried to find out, but the scowbanks
wouldn't tell me. I fancies, however, that they haven't got so very
much, for I don't see how four men--or even five, if you chooses to
reckon Chips in with 'em--could ha' brought more'n about a dozen bottles
aboard among 'em without our findin' out somethin' about it; and a dozen
bottles won't go so very far among all hands. I reckon that they'll
finish the lot in the course of the next hour or so, and then they'll
all turn in and have a good sleep, and be ready to come on deck in time
for the first watch. Luckily there ain't no more wind than what we
knows what to do with, and not much sign of it freshenin', so far as I
can see; so p'rhaps there won't be such a very terrible lot o' harm done
a'ter all."

"Possibly not," I agreed. "But," I went on, seizing the opportunity to
point a moral, "that is merely a happy accident. Had it been blowing
hard, and the weather threatening, it would probably not have made the
slightest difference in the conduct of those men. You and Chips, by
listening to and falling in with the fantastic proposals of that madman
Wilde, have set the men a very bad example, the effect of which is bound
to recoil on your own heads sooner or later. By taking part in the
seizure of this ship you have broken the law, which is the mainstay of
all authority, order, and discipline, and in doing so you have
encouraged those ignorant creatures for'ard to become lawless and
disobedient. I have pointed all this out to you before, Polson, and now
you have an example--a very mild example, it is true--of what inevitably
happens under such circumstances."

"Yes; I sees what you mean, Mr Troubridge," answered the boatswain.
"But, Lor' bless yer, sir, I don't think nothin' at all of a little
spree like this here. Discipline's a first-rate thing, I admit; but a
man can have too much of it, and it does him good to chuck it overboard
now and again. Them chaps for'ard won't be none the worse for this here
little outbreak of theirs, you'll see. We all enj'ys a bit o' liberty
occasionally, you know."

"Ay," answered I rather bitterly. "The mischief of it is, Polson, that
when men in the position of those noisy rascals in the forecastle take
it upon themselves to determine when, and for how long a time, they
shall indulge in a spell of liberty, they are as likely as not to insist
upon having it at a moment when it spe