warship is in sight. Now, Mr. Maas, I shall have to trouble you to
swallow this."

"I'll do nothing of the kind," asserted Maas sturdily. "You shall not
persuade me to put my lips to it."

"In that case, I'm afraid there will very probably be trouble," replied
MacAndrew. "If I were you, sir, I should make up my mind to the
inevitable. Remember there are unpleasant arguments we could bring to
bear, should you still remain obdurate."

Maas gasped for breath. He looked right and left, as if for some
loophole of escape, but could find none. He was surrounded on every
side by inexorable faces, which gazed upon him without pity or remorse,
while on the table before him stood the small glass half-full of the
dark-coloured liquid.

"Come, sir," said MacAndrew, "I shall be glad if you would toast us.
Let me remind you that there is no time to lose. It always pains me,
in cases like the present, to have to apply physical argument when
moral might produce the same result. In the event of your not
drinking, as I request, perhaps Mr. Browne will be kind enough to
permit us the use of his galley fire. The method, I admit, is
barbarous; nevertheless it is occasionally effective."

The perspiration rolled down Maas's cheeks. Bantering as MacAndrew's
tones were, he could still see that he was in deadly earnest.

Browne glanced out of the port-hole, and noticed that the man-o'-war's
boat had left its own vessel. In less than a quarter of an hour it
would be alongside, and then---- But he did not like to think of what
would happen then.

"I will give you one more minute in which to drink it," rejoined
MacAndrew, taking his watch from his pocket. "If you do not do so then
you must be prepared to take the consequences."

Silence fell upon the group for a space, during which a man might
perhaps have counted twenty.

"Half a minute," murmured MacAndrew, and Browne's heart beat so
violently that it almost choked him.

"Three-quarters of a minute," continued MacAndrew. "Mr. Foote, would
you mind giving me the revolver and standing by that door? I am afraid
that we shall be driven into a tussle."

Jimmy did as he was requested, and another pause ensued.

"Time's up," said MacAndrew, shutting his watch with a click. "Now we
must act. Mr. Browne, take his legs if you please."

They moved towards their victim, who shrank into a corner.

"I give in!" he cried at last, affecting a calmness he was far from
feeling.