been shipped. To his surprise, as he attacked the dinner, he found
Quincy and Benson, each with a similar outfit of tinware, toying with
the food, and paying no attention to the polyglot discourse of the
other men regarding the ship, the mates, and the food. But they glared
menacingly at Rogers as he entered.

"This your work, Rogers?" demanded Quincy. "Were you in cahoots with
that saloonkeeper?"

"Shut up!" answered Rogers, stabbing at a piece of salt beef with his
knife.

"We won't shut up!" said Benson, spooning up pea soup with his brand
new tin spoon. "This increases your sentence to the extent of a shorter
shrift."

"Go to the devil, the pair of you! I was doped and shanghaied myself,
and I've run foul o' the mates, same as you did--and for less reason,
too."

"Well, they'll sweat for this, and you, too, Rogers!" said Quincy.

"Shut up! You're up against something now that gunplay doesn't figure
in. You're aboard a Yankee hell ship, and you've got to make the best
of it."

"I wouldn't if I had my gun," said Quincy, moodily.

"Yes," added Benson, "with a gun I could have my own way."

Rogers straightened back, looked them steadily in their faces, and
said, "If you had your guns, what would you do?"

"Make this ship put back and land us," answered Quincy.

"Benson," said Rogers, "what would you do with a gun?"

"Shoot 'em full of holes until they turned this boat back."

"Are you game?" said Rogers. "Understand that you'll be alone. I
wouldn't help you; for, having been a sailor, I know what mutiny means
in the courts. I'd rather go back with either of you to stand trial
than to engage in open mutiny."

"Hang your mutiny!" said Quincy. "We're not sailors; we never agreed to
make this voyage. I'm an officer of the law."

"Feel the same way, Benson?" asked Rogers.

"The same. Give me a gun, and I'll make that Captain and his two
assistants walk a chalkline."

The rest of the men, engaged with their dinner, had paid no attention
to this discourse, and Rogers rose up, reached into his bag, and
produced the note he had found there on wakening. "Listen," he said:

"'BILL ROGERS:--You seem to be a square fellow and up against it. I
had to dope you because you would not have signed if you knew the
other two would have gone along. But I needed just three men; so I
doped you all. You'll find their guns and belts in your bag. Of
course, you will know what to do if you get in trouble