o? They daren't all four of 'em leave the barque,
with only Slushy to take care of 'er, because they knows very well that
the rest of us 'd pretty soon tie up Mr Slushy and have the barque back
again. And they knows, too, that if all four of 'em was to come ashore,
we could slip the cable, make sail, and take the 'ooker out to sea afore
they could pull off to 'er. No; they won't do that. What they _will_
do, I expect, is this. If Turnbull don't come off by sunset to-morrow--
which I s'pose he won't, eh? No. Well, if he don't, I expect as
they'll wait till some time a'ter midnight, and then two of 'em 'll
quietly drift ashore in one of the quarter-boats, leavin' the other two
to take care o' the ship. And the two as goes ashore 'll reckon upon
catchin' of you calmly asleep in your tent, there, and makin' you tell
'em where Turnbull is."

"Y-e-s," assented Leslie, thoughtfully, "it is quite likely that they
may do some such thing as that. Yes; no doubt they will do that, sooner
or later; if not to-morrow night, then the night after, or the night
after that again. Very well; if they do, I shall be ready for them.
And on the succeeding night, steward, you may look out for me again,
about this time, unless, meanwhile, I see any reason to alter my plans.
Now, that is all for the present, I think, so I will put you aboard
again. I suppose, by the way, these men have no suspicion that you and
I are in communication with each other?"

"Lor' bless ye, no, sir," answered Reynolds, cheerfully. "Why should
they? They don't dream as you've any idee of the real state of
affairs--at least not up to now. They may p'rhaps 'ave their suspicions
if Turnbull don't come aboard some time to-morrow; but at present they
believes as 'e 've bamboozled you completely. Then, they drinks pretty
freely every night, and sleeps sound a'ter it, which they wouldn't do if
they 'ad a thought as I was up to any game."

"So much the better," remarked Leslie. "What you have to do is to leave
them in the same comfortable frame of mind as long as possible. Now,
here we are. Good night!"

As Leslie paddled thoughtfully ashore again he pondered over the
foregoing conversation with the steward, and after carefully weighing
the several _pros_ and _cons_ of the situation, finally arrived at the
conclusion that the steward's surmise as to the mutineers' line of
action would probably prove to be a very near approach to the truth. In
any case he