"But they want to put me back aboard for a talk about how things stand," insisted Jarrow. "You'll let me come, won't ye?"
"Not with that gang," said Trask. "Let 'em take you ashore, and get up the beach. Then I'll come for you with the long boat."
Jarrow made some suggestion to Peth, but the mate shook his head.
"He says I come aboard now, this way, or not at all," said Jarrow. "You better let me tell you how the land lays."
"Nobody gets aboard here until Captain Dinshaw is brought back," said Trask. "And I'll take one man of the crew. The rest of 'em can stay here and starve for all I care. It's their own funeral. They had no business deserting the schooner."
"But I'm master, and that's my schooner, and I'm to say what's to be done," said Jarrow. "If you try to do that, it's piracy. I can't help it if the men refuse duty. All I can do is the best I can for the safety of my passengers, and if you don't let me do that, I wash my hands of ye."
"You'll find your schooner in Manila," declared Trask. "I've told you how to go about getting aboard."
"I can't do what they won't let me," whined Jarrow.
"What do they want?" demanded Trask.
The boat now had no way on her, and had swung broadside to the schooner, about a hundred yards off.