d roughly. "Only, if
you're a naval officer, as you say, and haven't joined the `thieves and
murderers,' as you call 'em, I should like to know how you come to be
rigged like a fo'c's'le Jack?"

I saw that the man was suspicious of me--perhaps thought I was
endeavouring, for purposes of espionage, to fathom his real feelings
with regard to the service into which he had been pressed; I saw,
moreover, that my conjecture was correct, and that, despite his cautious
replies, he was by no means satisfied with the arrangement, and so
determined to be frank with him at once, tell him what I contemplated,
and invite him to join me. As carpenter of the _Bangalore_ he would be
an especially valuable acquisition to our party. I accordingly did so;
and before I had finished I had the satisfaction of seeing that his
suspicions had completely disappeared, and that he was listening to me
intently and respectfully. When I had brought my disclosure and
proposition to an end, he at once said--

"I'm with you, sir, heart and soul! _Anything_--even a raft--will be
better than this thievin' and murderin' hooker and her cut-throat crew!
Yes, sir, I'm with you, for life or death. But, please God, it shall be
life and not death for all hands of us. Let us get away aboard at once,
sir; I'm just longin' to tread the beauty's planks again; and as to
scuttlin' her--why, I'll make it my first business, when I get aboard,
to shape out a few plugs and take 'em down into the run with me--that's
the only place where they'll be able to get at her under-water
plankin'--and as soon as they've gone I'll plug up them holes so that
she'll be as tight as a bottle, and never a penny the worse for what
little they're likely to do to her. But it would please me a precious
sight better to knock out the brains of whoever dares to go down below
to do the scuttlin' business."

"No, no," said I, "that would never do; the man would be missed, a
search would be instituted, and heaven only knows what the consequences
would be. No, the scuttling must be allowed to proceed, and the pirates
must finally leave the ship with the conviction that she is slowly but
surely sinking. If all goes well this craft will be out of sight before
morning, and then, once clear of them, we shall have leisure to make our
plans and carry them out."

"Right you are, sir, and right it is," answered Maxwell. "You'll have
to be our skipper now, sir, for poor Capt'n Mason and all thr