s crimes. George called Basset to his aid in the
consideration of this momentous question; and finally, at the suggestion
of the latter, he descended again to the ship's interior and sought the
man who had been Hubert's companion on the bench.

"Friend," said he, "you asked me, a little while ago, to release you.
If I were to do so, what would you and your comrades do with
yourselves?"

"It is just what Pedro and I"--indicating his companion upon the
bench--"have been discussing together, senor," answered the man.

"Well," said George, "have you arrived at any decision upon the matter?"

"Yes, senor, we have," was the reply. "We have decided that, even were
you willing to give us the galley, we could not keep the sea very long,
because none of us understand the navigation of a ship, and our
provisions would soon run short; moreover, galleys will only sail before
the wind, and we have had enough of rowing to last us for the rest of
our lives. On the other hand, we are all outlaws, and if we were to
land on the mainland we should be hunted down and killed, sooner or
later, or, worse still, taken and condemned to the galleys afresh. But
outside the Gulf, some two hundred miles or more to the westward, there
is a certain uninhabited island, at which this galley has often called
for water. It is large enough to support four or five times our number,
and although none of us are navigators we could easily find it by simply
following the coast line. Its soil is rich, there are abundant fruit
trees upon it, and plenty of water; we could easily support ourselves in
comfort there, senor; and Pedro and I think that if you will graciously
release us and give us the galley, we could do no better than go there
and settle down upon it."

The rest of the galley-slaves had been listening eagerly to what was
being said, as George could easily see; the scheme commended itself to
him as an excellent one in itself, moreover it pointed a way out of the
double difficulty of how to get rid of the slaves and the galley; he
therefore appealed to the listening crowd by saying to them:

"You have all heard your comrade's plan. Are you willing to fall in
with it?"

"_Si, senor; si, si. Mille gracias_," replied the slaves, with such
perfect unanimity that the young man no longer hesitated.

"So be it," he said. Then, turning to one of the men who was with him,
he directed him to release the Spaniard on the bench, and, having done
th