uppers, when, with a
muttered oath, he scrambled to his feet, and, plucking a pistol from
his belt, he would have shot me had not Hartog at this moment appeared
on deck, and commanded him to throw down his arms.

"How now," said Hartog, "am I captain of this ship or not? What means
this mutiny? Come both of you to my cabin that I may hear the case and
see justice done."

Without so much as a look at either of us Hartog then descended to his
state room, whither we followed him in shamefaced silence, for when the
captain spoke we knew he must be obeyed.

When Hartog had heard what we had to say, and the argument advanced by
each on his own behalf, he delivered judgment in the following terms:

"You are both of you in the wrong," said he. "Peter should not have
refused to obey an order without referring the matter to me, and you
Van Luck ought not to have taken the law into your own hands when I,
your captain, am the proper judge upon such matters. Still I am willing
to overlook your dereliction of duty (though by every rule of the sea
you are both deserving of death at the yard arm) provided that at the
first suitable place, and time, you fight out your quarrel as man to
man, and pass me your words that, whatever the result, the survivor, or
victor, shall bear the other no ill will."

This was a favourite method of Hartog's for settling disputes that were
occasionally bound to arise among his crew upon so long a voyage. Order
upon the ship, he maintained, must, for the common safety, be rigidly
observed, but if bad blood arose between men of high spirit and hot
temper, the malcontents were landed at some convenient place where, in
the presence of the ship's company to see fair play, they fought the
matter out, afterwards returning on board with their ardour cooled, and
their anger properly chastened. This plan, on the whole, was found to
work well. Sometimes one and sometimes both of the combatants were
killed, but, as a rule, the matter was settled without the sacrifice of
life, and the parties returned from their blood-letting the better
friends.

After hearing Hartog's decision we both bowed and retired, and, in the
terms of our promise, resumed the ordinary routine of our duties as
though nothing out of the common had occurred. But the news of the
coming fight spread among the crew and became the subject of gossip
throughout the ship.

I was now near twenty-one and Van Luck was three years my senior, we
being