emselves in the cold and wet. The boy,
O'Brien, was specially maltreated. Though there were three other
boys, it was O'Brien who came in for most of the abuse. There was no
explaining it, except on the ground that his was a stronger and more
dominant spirit than those of the other boys, and that he stood up more
for his rights, resenting the petty injustices that were meted out to
all the boys by the men. Whenever O'Brien came near the men in search
of a dry place to sleep, or merely moved about, he was kicked and cuffed
away. In return, he cursed them for their selfish brutishness, and blows
and kicks and curses were rained upon him. Miserable as were all of
them, he was thus made far more miserable; and it was only the flame of
life, unusually strong in him, that enabled him to endure.

As the days went by and they grew weaker, their peevishness and
ill-temper increased, which, in turn, increased the ill-treatment and
sufferings of O'Brien. By the sixteenth day all hands were far gone with
hunger, and they stood together in small groups, talking in undertones
and occasionally glancing at O'Brien. It was at high noon that the
conference came to a head. The captain was the spokesman. All were
collected on the poop.

"Men," the captain began, "we have been a long time without food--two
weeks and two days it is, though it seems more like two years and two
months. We can't hang out much longer. It is beyond human nature to go
on hanging out with nothing in our stomachs. There is a serious question
to consider: whether it is better for all to die, or for one to die. We
are standing with our feet in our graves. If one of us dies, the rest
may live until a ship is sighted. What say you?"

Michael Behane, the man who had been at the wheel when the Francis
Spaight broached to, called out that it was well. The others joined in
the cry.

"Let it be one of the b'ys!" cried Sullivan, a Tarbert man, glancing at
the same time significantly at O'Brien.

"It is my opinion," the captain went on, "that it will be a good deed
for one of us to die for the rest."

"A good deed! A good deed!" the men interjected.

"And it is my opinion that 'tis best for one of the boys to die. They
have no families to support, nor would they be considered so great a
loss to their friends as those who have wives and children."

"'Tis right." "Very right." "Very fit it should be done," the men
muttered one to another.

But the four boys cried out a