overhaul the boat in a large canoe shed, for quite possibly they
might have to put to sea in her again, if anything should prevent the
_Sikiana_ from calling at the island in a reasonable time.

CHAPTER X

That night as the second mate and his companions were sleeping
peacefully under the thatched roofs of the little native village, with
nought to disturb their slumbers but the gentle lapping of the waters
of the lagoon on the sandy beach, and the ceaseless call of the reef
beyond, Hendry and his companion in crime were sitting in their boat
talking earnestly.

The captain was steering; Chard sat on the after-thwart, facing him.

"I tell you that I don't care much what we do, Louis," said the
supercargo, with a reckless laugh, as he looked into the captain's
sullen face. "We've made a damned mess of it, and I don't see how we are
to get out of it by going to Ponape."

"Then what are we to do?" asked Hendry in a curious, husky voice, for
Chard's mocking, careless manner filled him with a savage hatred, which
only his fear of the man made him restrain.

"Let us talk it over quietly, Louis. But take a drink first," and
he handed the captain some rum-and-water. Hendry drank it in gloomy
silence, and waited till the supercargo had taken some himself.

"Now, Louis, here is the position. We _can't_ go to Ponape, for Atkins
will very likely get there as soon as we could, for with light winds
such as we have had to-day he would soon pass us with six oars, deep as
he is in the water. And even if we got there a week before him, we might
not find a ship bound to Sydney or anywhere else."

"But there is a chance of finding one."

"True, there _is_ a chance. But there is also a chance of Atkins's boat
being picked up at sea this very day, or the next, or a month hence, and
he and his crowd reaching Sydney long before us. And _I_ don't want to
run my neck into the noose that will be waiting there. Neither do you, I
suppose?"

"Why in the name of hell do you keep on talking about _that?_" burst
from the captain; "don't I know it as well as you?"

"Very well, I won't allude to such an unpleasant possibility--I _should_
say certainty--again," replied Chard coolly. "But as I was saying, the
chances are against us. If we kept on for Ponape we should either be
collared the moment we put foot ashore, or before we get away from
there to China or any other place, for Atkins is bound to turn up there,
unless, by a stroke of g