s. Yet
terrible as her situation was, she uttered no word of repining, her
courage was immeasurably superior to mine; her sympathy was all for me;
there was no apprehension on her own behalf; and now, at the moment when
a new and dreadful trouble had come upon the top of all that we had
previously undergone, when our brightest hopes were dashed to the
ground, it was she who found it needful to encourage me, instead of I
having to comfort and encourage her!

Nor would she permit me to suffer the humiliation of having proved less
strong than herself; at the first word of apology and self-condemnation
that I uttered she silenced me by laying the whole blame upon the
anxiety and fatigue to which I had been of late exposed; and when at
length she had salved the wound inflicted upon my self-esteem by my
recent loss of self-control, she set about the task of coaxing me to
yield with at least an apparent good grace to the demands of the men--
seeing that we were completely in their power, and could do no
otherwise--in order that we might secure such full measure of good
treatment from them as they might be disposed to accord to us. And so
convincingly did she argue that, despite my reluctance to acknowledge
myself conquered, I at length gave in; being influenced chiefly thereto,
not by Miss Onslow's arguments, but by the galling conviction that in
this way only could I hope to save her from the violence with which the
scoundrels had almost openly threatened her in the event of my
non-compliance.

This matter settled, I went on deck, where I found the entire crew
congregated about the binnacle, awaiting me. They watched my approach
in silence--and, as I thought, with ill-concealed anxiety--until I was
within two paces of the group, when I halted, regarding them
steadfastly. By this time I had completely recovered the command of my
temper, and my self-possession; and as I noted their anxious looks I
began to realise that, after all, these fellows were by no means so
independent of me that they would be likely to wantonly provoke me; and
I resolved to bring that point well home to them, with the view of
driving the most advantageous bargain possible.

"Well, men," said I, "I have considered your proposal;--and have come to
the conclusion that I will accede to it--upon certain conditions which I
will set forth in due course. But, first of all, I should like to know
what you would have done supposing I had not happened to ha