e wind was light, the Pyrenees' bottom was foul, and she could not
beat up against the strong westerly current. At the end of two hours she
had lost three miles. The sailors worked eagerly, as if by main strength
they could compel the PYRENEES against the adverse elements. But
steadily, port tack and starboard tack, she sagged off to the westward.
The captain paced restlessly up and down, pausing occasionally to survey
the vagrant smoke wisps and to trace them back to the portions of the
deck from which they sprang. The carpenter was engaged constantly in
attempting to locate such places, and, when he succeeded, in calking
them tighter and tighter.

"Well, what do you think?" the captain finally asked McCoy, who was
watching the carpenter with all a child's interest and curiosity in his
eyes.

McCoy looked shoreward, where the land was disappearing in the
thickening haze.

"I think it would be better to square away for Mangareva. With that
breeze that is coming, you'll be there tomorrow evening."

"But what if the fire breaks out? It is liable to do it any moment."

"Have your boats ready in the falls. The same breeze will carry your
boats to Mangareva if the ship burns out from under."

Captain Davenport debated for a moment, and then McCoy heard the
question he had not wanted to hear, but which he knew was surely coming.

"I have no chart of Mangareva. On the general chart it is only a fly
speck. I would not know where to look for the entrance into the lagoon.
Will you come along and pilot her in for me?"

McCoy's serenity was unbroken.

"Yes, Captain," he said, with the same quiet unconcern with which
he would have accepted an invitation to dinner; "I'll go with you to
Mangareva."

Again the crew was called aft, and the captain spoke to them from the
break of the poop.

"We've tried to work her up, but you see how we've lost ground. She's
setting off in a two-knot current. This gentleman is the Honorable
McCoy, Chief Magistrate and Governor of Pitcairn Island. He will
come along with us to Mangareva. So you see the situation is not so
dangerous. He would not make such an offer if he thought he was going
to lose his life. Besides, whatever risk there is, if he of his own free
will come on board and take it, we can do no less. What do you say for
Mangareva?"

This time there was no uproar. McCoy's presence, the surety and calm
that seemed to radiate from him, had had its effect. They conferred with
one