e next President aboard."

Coke paused to take breath.

"Wot a pity we can't give 'im a leg up," he added confidentially. "It
'ud be worth a pension to every man jack of us. 'Ere 'e is, special
freight, so to speak. W'y _'e'd sign anythink_."

Once the train was laid, it was a simple matter to fire the mine. When
Hozier awoke, to find the launch heading west, he was vastly astonished
by Coke's programme. It was all cut and dried, and there was really
nothing to cavil at. If they met a steamship, and she stopped in
response to their signals, her captain would be asked to take care, not
only of Miss Yorke, but of any other person who shirked further
adventure. As for Coke, and Watts, and the majority of the men, they
were pledged to De Sylva. Even Norrie, the engineer, a hard-headed
Scot, meant to stick to the launch until the President that was and
would be again was safely landed among his expectant people.

Watts let the cat out of the bag later.

"Those of us 'oo don't leave Dom Wot's-'is-name in the lurch are to get
ten years' full pay, extry an' over an' above wot the court allows," he
said. "Just think of it! Don't it make your mouth water? Reminds me
of a chap I wonst read about in a trac'. It tole 'ow 'e took to booze.
One 'ot Sunday, bein' out for a walk, 'e swiped 'arf a pint of ginger
beer, the next 'e tried shandy-gaff, the third 'e went the whole hog,
an' then 'e never stopped for ten years. My godfather! Ten years' pay
an' a ten years' drunk! It's enough to make a sinner of any man."

Hozier laughed. Two days ago he would have asked no better luck than
the helping of Dom Corria to regain his Presidentship. Now, there was
Iris to protect. He would not be content to leave her in charge of the
first grimy collier they encountered, nor was he by any means sure that
she would agree to be thus disposed of. He was puzzled by the singular
unanimity of purpose displayed by his shipmates. But that was their
affair. His was to insure Iris's safety; the future he must leave to
Providence.

And, indeed, Providence contrived things very differently.

By nightfall the launch was a hundred miles west of the island. Norrie
got eight knots out of her, but it needed no special calculation to
discover that she would barely make the coast of Brazil if she consumed
every ounce of coal and wood on board. The engines were strong and in
good condition, but she had no bunker space for a long voyage. W