ness, now, I do; I _knowed_ it was boun' to go a mucker, from the
very fust! But you and that bloomin' skowbank of a Turnbull _would_
drag me into it, temptin' me with your yarns of treasure, and bein' as
rich as a Jew, and a lot more rot o' the same sort, and now, here I am,
landed--"

"There, that will do, my man," interrupted Leslie, sharply, as Nicholls
deftly proceeded to lash the fellow's hands behind him; "your repentance
comes just a little too late to be of any use to you. You are a
mutineer and a murderer, and you must take the consequences of your evil
deeds."

"What do _you_ know about it?" growled the man who had been addressed as
Burton. "Who's been blowin' the gaff to _you_? If it's Turnbull that's
been doin' a split, I'll wring his neck for 'im!"

"There, sir, number one is all right," exclaimed Nicholls as he stepped
away from his victim. "If he gets adrift I'll give him leave to eat me,
body and bones! Shall I go ahead with this other chap now?"

"Yes," assented Leslie; "truss him up, and let us have done with them
both as quickly as possible."

Burton, who was an immensely powerful fellow, poured forth a volley of
the most horrible curses and threats as Nicholls approached him; but
Leslie stood but half a dozen paces from him, with his revolver levelled
straight at the fellow's head, and a stern word of caution sufficed to
quell the fast-rising inclination to resistance that shone in the man's
eyes; he subsided suddenly to a state of sullen silence, and submitted
in his turn to be bound. The whole episode had not occupied more than
five minutes, at the outside. Then, with their hands firmly secured
behind them, the two men were marched off to the hut that had been built
by the savages, where they were compelled to lie down and submit to a
further process of binding, upon the completion of which they found
themselves absolutely helpless; for now both their hands and their feet
were lashed together so tightly and securely that it was quite
impossible for them to move otherwise than to give an occasional feeble,
impotent wriggle.

This accomplished to their complete satisfaction, Leslie and Nicholls
returned to the tent, and resumed their alternate vigils until the
morning; for they knew not what arrangements these men might have made
with their fellow-mutineers, and deemed it wisest not to relax their
vigilance now until the entire adventure had been brought to a
successful issue.

The