Mark drawled from across the deck: “You know as much as any man aboard—myself excepted, Joel. It’s my own secret, mind.”
“He proposed that we go to this island,” Joel pursued, “and that he and I go ashore and get the pearls and say nothing about them.”
Varde, at Joel’s side, swung his head and looked bleakly at Mark Shore; and one or two of the men murmured. Joel said quickly: “Don’t misunderstand. I’m not blaming him for that. You must not. The pearls are his. He has a right to them....
“What I want you to know is that I refused to go with him and get them on half shares. I could have had half, and refused....
“Now he has spread the story among you. And the mates say that I must go with you all, and get the things.”
He stopped, and the eyes of the men were on him; and one or two nodded, and a voice here and there exclaimed in approval. Joel waited until they were quiet again; then he said: “These—pearls—have cost life. At least five men and a woman died in the getting of them. If we had them aboard here, more of us would die; for none would be content with his share....
“It’s in my mind that they’d bring blood aboard the Nathan Ross. And I have no wish for that. But first—
“How many of you are for going after them?”
There was a murmur of assent from many throats; and Joel looked from man to man. “Most of you, at least,” he said. “Is there any man against going?”
There may have been, but no man spoke; and over Joel’s face passed a weary little shadow of pain. For a long moment he stood in the sun, studying them; and they saw his lips were white. Then he said quietly: