ement partly restored his confidence in me,
so that he followed my instructions faithfully. He evidently recognised
that he was in my power; that if I did not choose to restore him fully
no other man could.

Of the ship's officers, Anderson, who was in command, and Percival, the
doctor, were men of some individuality. The captain was a good sailor
and an excellent man of business. In the first capacity, he was firm,
exacting, and scrupulously conscientious. In the second, his conscience
was more elastic when he saw his way clear to his own advantage. He had
certain rigid rules of conduct which he prided himself on observing to
the letter, without for a moment suspecting that their _raison d'etre_
lay in his own interests. His commercial morality only required him to
keep within the law. His final contract with myself was, I admit,
faithfully carried out, but the terms of it would not have discredited
the most predatory business man in London town.

Percival was the opposite pole of such a character. He was a clever man,
who might have risen in his profession but for his easy-going indolence.
I spent many an hour in his cabin. He was a sportsman and a skilled
_raconteur_. His anecdotes helped to while the weary time away. He
exaggerated persistently, but this did not disturb me. Besides, if in
his narratives he lengthened out the hunt a dozen miles and increased
the weight of the fish to an impossible figure, made the brace a dozen
and the ten-ton boat a man-of-war, it was not because he was
deliberately untruthful. He looked back on his feats through the
telescope of a strongly magnifying memory. It was more agreeable to me
to hear him boast his prowess than have him inquire after the health and
treatment of my patient Brande. On this matter he was naturally very
curious, and I very reticent.

That Brande did not entirely trust me was evident from his confusion
when I surprised him once reading his formula. His anxiety to convince
me that it was only a commonplace memorandum was almost ludicrous. I was
glad to see him anxious about that document. The more carefully he
preserved it, and the more faithfully he adhered to its conditions, the
better for my experiment. A sense of security followed this incident. It
did not last long. It ended that evening.

After a day of almost unendurable heat, I went on deck for a breath of
air. We were well out in the Indian Ocean, and soundings were being
attempted by some of our na