ere the musty taint of old ropes came to them,
there was a spirit of danger.

Dyck was right in thinking that in the midshipmen's dismal berth the
first flowers of revolt to his rule would bloom.

Sailors, even as low as the pig-sty men, had some idea of fair play; and
as the weeks that had passed since they left the Thames had given them
better food and drink, and lessened the severity of those above them,
real obedience had come.

It was not strange that the ship ran well, for all the officers under
the new conditions, except Dyck himself, had had previous experience.
The old lieutenants had gone, but midshipmen, who in any case were
trained, had taken their places. The rest of the ship's staff were the
same, except the captain; and as Dyck had made a friend of Greenock
the master, a man of glumness, the days were peaceful enough during the
voyage to the Caribbean Sea.

The majority saw that every act of Dyck had proved him just and capable.
He had rigidly insisted on gun practice; he had keyed up the marines to
a better spirit, and churlishness had been promptly punished. He was,
in effect, what the sailors called a "rogue," or a "taut one"--seldom
smiling, gaunt of face but fearless of eye, and with a body free from
fatigue.

As the weather grew warmer and the days longer, and they drew near to
the coast of Jamaica, a stir of excitement was shown.

"You'd like to know what I'm going to do, Michael, I suppose?" said Dyck
one morning, as he drank his coffee and watched the sun creeping up the
sky.

"Well, in three days we shall know what's to become of us, and I have
no doubt or fear. This ship's a rebel, but it's returning to duty.
We've shown them how a ship can be run with good food and drink and fair
dealing, and, please God, we'll have some work to do now that belongs to
a man-of-war!"

"Sir, I know what you mean to do," replied Michael. "You mean to get all
of us off by giving yourself up."

"Well, some one has to pay for what we've done, Michael." A dark,
ruthless light came into Dyck's eyes. "Some one's got to pay." A grim
smile crossed his face. "We've done the forbidden thing; we've mutinied
and taken to the open sea. We were fired on by the other mutiny ships,
and that will help our sailors, but it won't help me. I'm the leader. We
ought, of course, to have taken refuge with the nearest squadron of the
king's ships. Well, I've run my luck, and I'll have to pay."

He scratched his chin with a th