to me, presently slouched along the deck and came up on to the
poop. Arrived at the head of the weather poop ladder, he paused and,
facing forward, appeared to be regarding the set of the canvas
attentively. Then, with a very sheepish air, he joined me and took the
seat which Wilde had not long vacated. I saw that the fellow was dying
of curiosity to learn what had passed between the ex-schoolmaster and
myself, but was determined not to help him by opening the conversation;
the result being a long--and apparently on the part of the boatswain an
embarrassing pause. However, at length he broke ground by remarking
with a conciliating smile:

"So I sees you've been havin' a yarn with Mr Wilde, eh, Mr Troubridge?
Have he told ye, sir, of the plan that we've made up among us for
startin' a new country?"

"He has told me--to my intense astonishment--that I have become
shipmates with a round hundred or so of consummate idiots--leaving the
women and children out of the question," I answered sharply.

"A-ah!" returned the boatswain, with a sorrowful shake of the head. "I
felt, somehow, as you wouldn't see the thing as we sees it. All the
same, sir, I hopes--yes, I most fervently hopes--as he've been able to
persuade ye to jine in with us."

"He tells me that if I refuse to do so I am to be lashed up, neck and
heels, and hove overboard with a sinker attached to my neck some fine
night when the women and children are all below. Do you approve of that
arrangement, Polson?" I demanded.

"Well--no--I can't say as I do; not altogether," answered the boatswain,
fidgeting uneasily where he sat. "But I hopes it won't come to that,
Mr Troubridge. I don't hold with forcin' anybody to do what they don't
want to do; but I don't see as it'd do you no very serious harm for to
agree to navigate this here ship to the spot where we wants her took to;
and that's all as you're to be asked to do."

"And if I should choose to refuse, I suppose you would stand by and see
me drowned, if indeed you did not lend a hand to lash me up?" I asked,
infusing all the sarcasm I could into the question.

"No, no, Mr Troubridge!" exclaimed Polson, justly indignant that I
should bring such a monstrous charge against him. "I wouldn't lift a
finger to hurt ye, sir--I shouldn't have no need to, for there's lots o'
chaps among them emigrants ready enough to do any mortal thing that Mr
Wilde tells 'em to. I should just go below and have nothin' to do