Part 33 (1/2)

”Probably he meant none of ours,” I explained ironically.

”He was going to wait till you'd got the treasure and then put you in a boat near the coast,” Gallagher added.

Neidlinger spat sulkily at a knot in the floor. His eyes would not meet mine. It was a fair guess that he was no hardened mutineer, but had been caught in a net through lack of moral backbone.

”Afraid Bothwell isn't a very safe man to follow. He's let you be mauled up pretty badly. I've a notion he'll slip away and leave you to be hanged without the comfort of his presence.”

”You don't need to rub that in, Mr. Sedgwick,” advised George Fleming.

”And perhaps, since you're here, you will explain your business.”

It must be said for George Fleming that at least he was a hardy villain and no weakling. The men were like weather-vanes. They veered with each wind that blew.

”That's right,” chimed in Gallagher. ”We didn't ask your company. If we go to h.e.l.l I shouldn't wonder but you'll travel the road first, sir.

Take a hitch and a half turn on this. We're in the same boat, you and us. Now you take an oar and pull us out of the rough water, Mr.

Sedgwick.”

I laughed.

”Not I, Gallagher. You made your own bed, and I'm hanged if I'll lie in it, though I believe it is bad taste to refer to hanging in this company. _I_ didn't start a little mutiny. _I_ didn't murder as good a mate as any seaman could ask for. It isn't _my_ fault that a round half dozen of you are dead and gone to feed the fishes.”

Higgins groaned lugubriously. Neidlinger s.h.i.+fted his feet uneasily. Not one of them but was impressed.

Harry Fleming glanced at his brother, cleared his throat, and spoke up.

”Mr. Sedgwick, spit it out. What have you to offer? Will Captain Blythe let this be a bygone if we return to duty? That's what we want to know.

If not, we've got to fight it out. A blind man could see that.”

I told them the truth, that I had no authority to speak for Blythe. He would probably think it his duty to give them up to the authorities if they were still on board when we reached Panama.

It was pitiful to see how they clutched at every straw of hope.

”Well, sir, what do you mean by that if? Will he stand back and let us escape?”

”All of you but Bothwell. Mind, I don't promise this. Why not send a deputation to the captain and ask for terms?”

Higgins slapped his fat thigh.

”By crikey, 'e's said it. A delegation to the captain. That's the bloomin' ticket.”

Pat to his suggestion came an unexpected and startling answer.

”Fortunately it won't be necessary to send the delegation, since your captain has come down to join you.”

The voice was Bothwell's; so, too, were the ironic insolence, the sardonic smile, the air of contemptuous mastery that sat so lightly on him. He might be the greatest scoundrel unhanged--and that was a point upon which I had a decided opinion--but I shall never deny that there was in him the magnetic force which made him a leader of men.

Immediately I recognized defeat for my attempt to end the mutiny at a stroke. His very presence was an inspiration to persistence in evil. For though he had brought them nothing but disaster, the fellow had a way of impressing himself without appearing to care whether he did or not.

The careless contempt of his glance emphasized the difference between him and them. He was their master, though a fortnight before none of them had ever seen Bothwell. They feared and accepted his leaders.h.i.+p, even while they distrusted him.