uninterrupted. The foreign crew of the lifeboat, limp with scare,
would have been mere slaughter-pigs on board even if they could have
been lured there, which was improbable, and so they were bidden to haul
off out of shot, and wait till they were needed.

Now there was no question here of risking a hand-to-hand encounter. The
Krooboys on board mustered quite fifty head, and most of them were men
of enormous physical strength. So the three invaders went into the
chart-house, from the ports of which they could command the bridge deck
and the main fore deck, and shot the door-bolts by way of making
themselves secure. The walls were of iron, and the roof was of iron; the
place was a perfect stronghold in its way; and as there was no chance of
its being stormed without due notice, they tacitly called a halt to
recover breath.

"Here," said Sheriff, "is the poor old skipper's whisky. I guess a
second mate's nip all round will do us no harm."

"Here," said Kettle, "are the old man's Canary cigars, nice and black
and flavory, and I guess one of them's more in my line, sir, thanking
you all the same. I haven't come across a Christian smoke for more
dreary months than I care to think about."

The Mate was peering through one of the forward ports. "There's the door
of my room wide open," he grunted. "I bet those new clothes of mine are
gone. They're just the thing to take a nigger's eye--good thick blue
broadcloth."

Captain Kettle wiped the perspiration from his forehead with a bare,
sinewy arm. "Now," he said, "enough time's been wasted. We must keep
those toughs on the move, or they'll find leisure to think, and be
starting some fresh wickedness."

"If we go out of this chart-house," said Sheriff doubtfully, "they'll
swamp us by sheer weight. You must remember we've only got two pistols,
yours and mine. The poor old skipper's is lost."

"I'm going to try what a little quiet talking-to will do first, sir. I
used to be a bit useful with my tongue, if I haven't lost the trick. But
before that, I'm going to borrow this white drill coat and pants of
your late old man's, if you don't mind. You'd hardly think it, sir, if
you knew the trials I've gone through in that beastly Africa, but I
believe it's the want of a decent pair of trousers that's hurt me more
than anything."

Captain Kettle dressed himself with care, and put on a white-covered
uniform cap; and then, happening to see a pair of scissors, he took them
up and tr